



GopyrightN!*. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSITS 



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THE SHORTER POEMS OF 
JOHN MILTON 




'Vi^^is:o 



THE SHORTER POEMS 



OF 



JOHN MILTON 



INCLUDING 



THE TWO LATIN ELEGIES AND ITALIAN SONNET TO 
DIODATI, AND THE EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 



ARRANGED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, WITH PREFACE, 
INTRODUCTION, AND NOTES 

BY 

ANDREW J. GEORGE, M.A. 

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, HIGH SCHOOL, NEWTON, MASS. 

Editor of Wordsworth's "Prelude," "Select Poems of 
KoBERT Burns," Tennyson's " PRiNCESS,'L,«rK^Tr-~ 



APR 11 1898 

i^er of Co9f ^''^^' 



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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 

1898 

All rights reserved 

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Copyright, 1898, 
By ANDREW J. GEORGE 



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Norfajooli ^rcgg 

J. S. Cashing & Co. — Berwick & Smith. 
Norwood Mass. U.S.A. 



To 
DAVID MASSON, M.A., LL.D. 

WHOSE COMPLETE AND SCHOLARLY WORKS 

ON MILTON 

HAVE WON THE ADMIRATION OF ALL 

STUDENTS OF ENGLISH LETTERS 

THIS EDITION 

IS GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED 



"After I had for my first years, by the ceaseless diligence 
and care of my father, (whom God recompense) been exercised 
to the tongues, and some sciences, as my age would suffer, by 
sundry masters and teachers, both at home and at the schools, 
it was found that whether aught was imposed me by them that 
had the overlooking, or betaken to of mine own choice hi 
English or other tongue, prosing or versing, but chiefly by this 
latter, the style, by certain vital signs it had, was likely to live. 
... I began thus far to assent to an inward prompting which 
now grew daily upon me, that by labour and intent study, 
(which 1 take to be my portion in this life), joined with the 
strong propensity of nature, 1 might perhaps leave something 
so written to aftertimes as they should not willingly let it die. 
... I applied myself to fix all the industry and art I could 
unite to the adorning of my native tongue." 

— The Reason of Church Government. 



PREFACE 

In June, 1891, I received a letter from Senator 
George F. Hoar, in which occurs the following: ^'I 
should like to make a suggestion to you which I 
think would enable you to do a service to the lovers 
of good literature of the same character as that ren- 
dered by your Wordsworth's ' Selections ' and edition 
of the 'Prelude,' — that is, that you publish a care- 
fully annotated edition, with full explanations, of 
Milton's ' Shorter Poems,' including all the poems, ex- 
cept ' Paradise Lost,' ' Paradise Regained,' and ' Sam- 
son Agonistes.' I read ' Lycidas ' aloud to my wife 
last evening, and we were both surprised to find so 
great a number of allusions and phrases, the meaning 
of which we did not in the least comprehend. I do 
not refer merely to the classical or historic names, or 
the places in and about the English seas and rivers, to 
which Milton makes reference, but also to the mean- 
ing of some of the lines." 

At that time I was not ready to act upon Mr. Hoar's 
suggestion as I had not determined what was the best 
form the work ought to assume. In the six years 
which have followed, I have been watching the vari- 
ous lines along which the mind of the student natu- 
rally works, in gathering what is needful for an 
appreciation of the " Shorter Poems," and I have 

vii 



Vlll PREFACE 

found that what Eev. F. D. Maurice said at Birming- 
ham, in 1862, is fundamentally sound. 

"I believe you cannot understand Milton, or his 
works," said he, " in any way, so well as by connect- 
ing them with the stages of his life : in what place, at 
what time, under what impulses, amidst what society, 
the thoughts were breathed and the words came forth." 

The aim of this volume is to present the poems 
which preceded the great epics in the order and under 
those influences in the home and the school, in the uni- 
versity and the world, which formed the mind and 
fashioned the art of the poet. The notes give each 
poem its appropriate setting of natural, personal, and 
historical associations. It is hoped that the book will 
be found representative and fairly complete in its 
biography, history, and criticism, and that it will serve 
as a natural and healthful incentive to those Avho wish 
to extend their researches in any of these lines. I 
have found by experience that this method of read- 
ing the ^' Shorter Poems " creates such an interest in 
Milton, as man and poet, that it carries one naturally, 
and with no abrupt transition, to the great epics. 

It must be confessed that the editor who follows 
Professor Masson is like "the Turk who builds his 
cabin out of Grecian or Roman ruins," and I wish to 
record my indebtedness to his complete and scholarly 
works. While a large part of the notes needed are 
such as have grown out of my teaching of the poems, 
yet, in very many cases, the material could not be 
found elsewhere than in the volumes of Professor 
Masson, and in every case, where I have been so in- 
debted, credit has been given. 



PREFACE IX 

My thanks are due to Professor Masson for the 
privilege, so graciously given, of associating his name 
with this edition. 

The Latin poems and Italian sonnet to Diodati, with 
Cowper's translation, have been included because it is 
believed they will add to the interest of the work by 
revealing a most significant influence in the life of the 
poet. 

The dates which precede the notes to each poem 
refer, if there are two, to the date of composition of 
the poem and its first publication by Milton; and if 
three, the second refers to date of first publication by 
some one other than Milton. The letters K., T., and 
M., in brackets, refer to Keightley, Todd, and Masson 
respectively. 

If errors, biographical, historical, or textual, are 

found in this edition, I shall be glad to have my 

attention called to them. 

A. J. G. 
Brookline, Mass., 
March, 1898. 



INTRODUCTION 



The period intervening between the destruction of 
the Spanish galleons in 1588 and the battle of La 
Hogue, which gave England her dominion of the seas 
in 1692, witnessed the glorious reign of Queen Eliza- 
beth close in an evening of extraordinary splendor 
and beauty, — 

" From worlds not quickened by the sun, 
A portion of the gift is won ; 
An intermingling of Heaven's pomp is spread 
On ground which British shepherds tread," 

and the splendor penetrated into the dark night of 
the Stuarts, illuminating a solitary peak which in its 
turn threw the fire across the waste of the eighteenth 
century, and in its light arose Wordsworth and Cole- 
ridge, those 

" Twin morning stars of the new century's song." 
The two great influences at work in England at the 
time of Milton's birth were Hellenism, which came 
through the Renaissance, and revived the spontaneity 
of consciousness out of which literature and art were 
recreated; and Hebraism, which came through the 
Reformation, and revived the strictness of conscience 
out of which the spirit of righteousness was quick- 
ened. The former gave us Elizabethan England, with 



XI 



Xll INTRODUCTION 

Spenser, Sidney, and Shakespeare ; the latter Puritan 
England, with Butler, Bunyan, and Milton. If we 
would understand the forces which created and 
nurtured Milton the man and poet we must turn 
to the history of the closing years of Elizabeth and 
the period of James I. and Charles I. His work 
previous to the Commonwealth is distinguished for 
its Kenaissance spirit, its charm of childhood and 
grace of youth, while revealing at the same time a 
sublime dignity born of early Puritanism ; but after 
the Commonwealth it became militant and is itself 
a history of the time, yet is still true to the two great 
articles of Milton's creed, — Art and Faith. Carlyle 
has said that Milton was the child of Shakespeare 
and John Knox. He may be called the last of the 
Elizabethans and the first of the moderns. 

Elizabethan England was characterized by marvel- 
lous expansion in literary, religious, and commercial 
interests which led to a spirit of independence in the 
nation as a whole. She was "a noble and puissant 
nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, 
and shaking her invincible locks as an eagle mewing 
her mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at 
the full midday beam." London was the centre of all 
these interests, and Elizabeth the object of chivalrous 
loyalty. When the midday splendor of the literary 
impulse revealed itself in the Faerie Queene instinct 
with the vital soul of the age, it became "the de- 
light of every accomplished gentleman, the model 
of every poet, the solace of every soldier." In it 
were embodied those principles of literary, political, 
and religious activity which were destined to shake 



INTRODUCTION Xlll 

the foundations of the Churcli and the kingship in the 
moral earnestness which was developing out of the Re- 
naissance and the Reformation ; for it was in the last 
years of Elizabeth's reign, years of sj)lendor at home 
and triumph abroad, that England passed through that 
mighty change due to her becoming a nation of a 
single book, — the Bible. The Bible, clothed in the 
language of Shakespeare, and enthroned in the home 
which Puritanism had created, fostered manners, vir- 
tue, freedom, power, in society, politics, religion, and 
literature. From it came the new conception of the 
dignity of the individual, in which humanity redis- 
covered its patent of nobility; it revealed the divinity 
of humanity to '^ every boy that driveth the plough," 
as well as to every theologian in his study. 

It is difficult for us in the nineteenth century to 
realize how complete was the union of the literary, 
political, and religious spirit under the influence of 
the teaching of the Bible. From it came that noble 
enthusiasm for one God, one Law, which meant no 
divine right for kings which was not a divine right 
for every man. Every political act affected both liter- 
ature and religion ; every literary production carried 
a political and a religious message ; while every ob- 
servance of religion looked to the creation of a purer 
political and literary activity. The crowds which 
flocked to St. Paul's to listen to the reading of Bon- 
ner's Bibles, and the tenant, the farmer, and the shop- 
keeper who reverently read a chapter from the "big 
book " around the family hearth, were being trained 
in literary and political principles by which of old the 
poet, the statesman, and the prophet — heroes all — 



XIV IN TR OB UCriON 

had been nurtured. " Legends and annals, war song 
and psalm, state rolls and biographies, the mighty 
voices of prophets, the parables of evangelists, 
stories of mission journeys, of perils by sea and 
among the heathen, philosophic arguments, apoca- 
lyptic visions, — all were flung broadcast over minds 
unoccupied, for the most part, by any rival learning." 
Such was the temper of the Puritan at the accession 
of James I. 

The natural disposition of James, and the training 
which he received during the stormy times in Scotland, 
make it easy to forecast what will be the characteristics 
of his reign at a time when Episcopacy is established 
in England, and Presbyterianism in Scotland; when 
the two antagonistic parties. Catholics and Puritans, 
each ready for the death struggle, are watching his 
every movement; and the civilized world interested 
spectators. Where Elizabeth had been wise, temper- 
ate, judicious, serious, he was foolish, radical, rash, and 
trifling. Early in his reign his temper of mind was 
revealed at the Hampton Court Conference called to 
consider the petition of Puritans for some changes in 
the methods of the Episcopacy by which it would be 
more in harmony with the democratic idea of the 
Reformers. On that occasion he said, "A Scottish 
Presbyter as well fitteth with monarchy as God and 
the Devil," and ordered the ten who presented the 
petition (signed by more than a thousand of their 
ministers) to be imprisoned. His next step was to 
assert the doctrine of Divine Right of Kings by dic- 
tating to the House of Commons ; the result of which 
was the reaction of the Commons against the Catholics, 



INTEODUCTION XV 

the exodus of Pilgrims and Puritans to the New World 
and the beginning of a New England. 

Notwithstanding the political and religious ferment 
of the time, the principles of the Renaissance and the 
Reformation, which created Elizabethan England, still 
remained, although the old enthusiasm for England 
gradually died out in the strife of parties, and imita- 
tion took the place of creation. No great work ap- 
pears in this period of exhaustion and transition which 
does not owe its inspiration to the atmosphere of the 
previous period. It is significant that in 1623, the 
year of the publication of the first folio of Shake- 
speare, Waller published his earliest couplets and 
ushered in the era of the Classicists with their brilliant 
conceits, their servility to foreign models, and their 

learned emptiness. 

"Ye were dead 
To things ye knew not of, — were closely wed 
To musty laws hned out with wretched rule 
And compass vile ; so that ye taught a school 
Of dolts to smooth, inlay, and clip, and fit, 
Till, like the certain wands of Jacob's wit 
They tallied. Easy was the task : 
A thousand handicraftsmen wore the mask 
Of Poesy." 

Charles was heir not only to his father's failings, 
but to all the mischief which those failings had pro- 
duced. The breach between King and Parliament 
grew wider because of the excesses of the Duke of 
Buckingham and the marriage of Charles with a 
French Catholic princess. Hampden and Sir John 
Eliot led the attack upon the king; Parliament re- 
fused to grant money, and declared that in matters of 



XVI INTRODUCTION 

religion and politics it must be consulted, and that if 
the king refused '• he was a betrayer of the liberty of 
England and an enemy to the same." Charles soon 
demonstrated that he was both of these by establishing 
the Star Chamber, the Court of High Commission, and 
by attempting to force the prayer-book upon the Scotch 
Covenanters. We must not forget that at this time, 
when Charles was at the height of his tyranny and 
England was tossing npon the wave of civil war, 
Milton was resting from his first flight and pkuning 
himself for a second, " of highest hope and hardest 
attempting," in the quietude of classic Italy ; and that 
on learning the direction affairs were taking, his love 
of freedom made but one course clear for him, — to 
return and enter the contest for liberty "when the 
Church of God was at the foot of her insulting 
enemies." 

After Charles found that he could not scare Parlia- 
ment into submission, he threw down the gauntlet at 
the foot of the royal standard at Nottingham, and war 
began. Edgehill, Marston Moor, and Naseby reveal 
the course of that struggle which ended on the scaffold, 
and the Commonwealth began its work with a prohibi- 
tion against the proclaiming of any person king of 
England or Ireland, and the abolition of the House of 
Lords. Government was vested in a Council of State, 
and Cromwell was head of the army. Milton became 
Latin Secretary; and here begins that struggle of 
twenty years for the defence of the one thing he holds 
dearest, — liberty ; " religious liberty against the prel- 
ates, civil liberty against the crown, the liberty of 
the press against the executive, liberty of conscience 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

against the Presbyterians, and domestic liberty against 
the tyranny of canon law." The poet becomes phi- 
losopher and statesman; and the glory of English lit- 
erature, the champion and martyr of English liberty. 
As recreation from the severe strain of composing the 
prose controversial pamphlet, Milton threw off those 
sonnets so charged with the personal note that they 
bring us into the passion and the pathos that consti- 
tuted his deepest life during these memorable years. 

The splendid prophecy of the future of English 
literature which the Milton of these two periods pre- 
sents, is that of intellectual and moral earnestness 
revealed in the highest type of beauty — the union of 
sweetness and light. 

We are wont to give a too great proportion of atten- 
tion to the Milton of Paradise Lost, and the result is a 
belief that Milton lacked the finer and sweeter qualities 
with which we associate Spenser and Shakespeare. 
The historian has emphasized certain types of the Puri- 
tan revealed in the political and religious activity of 
the time, and has given us for the most part the formal, 
rather than the real, Puritan. Hence he has become a 
symbol of an austere, harsh and canting reformer, who 
finds little in the nature of existing politics and re- 
ligion which is to his mind. And although between 
Clarendon and Macaulay we have a great variety of 
types, they severally need supplementing by a careful 
study of that furnished by the Milton of the Shorter 
Poems. Here will be found nothing of religious cant, 
no hatred of art and beauty even when they are misused, 
no frowning upon wholesome gaiety, but a generous 
recognition of all those elements that tend to make life 



xviii INTRODUCTION 

stronger in hope, more perfect in temper, and finer in 
spirit. 

The love of nature and man, and the pleasures 
afforded by a life of ease and social converse revealed 
in L' Allegro; the love of art and philosophy, and the 
delights of solitude in // Penseroso; the tribute paid 
to noble men and gentle women in song, action, and all 
the magnificent appointments of the Masque, with its 
splendid condemnation of the fanaticism of Prynne; 
the tender and delicate passion in the poems on Dio- 
dati ; and the passion for liberty, the prayers for 
toleration, and the religious rapture set in the strong 
framework of the political sonnets, present us a truer 
type in heart and intellect of that real Puritanism 
which lay beneath the less attractive manifestations. 
Here is the type of all that was deepest and most per- 
manent in English life between the luxuriousness of 
the Elizabethan and the licentiousness of the Eestora- 
tion. 

The highest note of the prose of these periods con- 
firms the revelation of the verse. "Though all the 
winds of doctrine were let loose," says he in the 
Areopagitica, "to play upon the earth, so Truth be in 
the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibit- 
ing to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood 
grapple ; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a 
free and open encounter ? . . . How many other 
things might be tolerated in peace, and left to con- 
science, had we but charity, and were it not the chief 
stronghold of our hypocrisy to be ever judging one 
another ? '^ 



APPRECIATIONS 

" Nor second He, that rode sublime 
Upon the seraph-wings of Ecstasy, 
The secrets of th' Abyss to spy. 

He pass'd the flaming bounds of Place and Time : 
The living Throne, the sapphire-blaze, 
Where Angels tremble while they gaze, 
He saw ; but blasted with excess of light. 
Closed his eyes in endless night." 

Gray. 

" Milton ! thou should'st be living at this hour : 
England hath need of thee : she is a fen 
Of stagnant waters : altar, sword, and pen. 
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, 
Have forfeited their ancient English dower 
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men ; 
Oh ! raise us up, return to us again ; 
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. 
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart : 
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea : 
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, 
So didst thou travel on life's common way. 
In cheerful godliness ; and yet thy heart 
The lowliest duties on herself did lay." 

Wordsworth. 

" mighty-mouth'd inventor of harmonies, 
skill' d to sing of Time or Eternity, 
God-gifted organ-voice of England, 
Milton, a name to resound for ages ; 
xix 



XX A PPBECIA TIONS 

Whose Titan angels, Gabriel, Abdiel, 
Starr'd from Jehovah's gorgeous armouries, 
Tower, as the deep-domed empyrean 
Rings to the roar of an angel onset — 
Me rather all that bowery loneliness. 
The brooks of Eden mazily murmuring, 
And bloom profuse and cedar arches 
Charm, as a wanderer out in ocean. 
Where some refulgent sunset of India 
Streams o'er a rich ambrosial ocean isle, 
And crimson-hued the stately palm woods 
Whisper in odorous heights of even." 

Tennyson. 
" He left the upland lawns and serene air 

Wherefrom his soul her noble nurture drew, 
And reared his helm among the unquiet crew 
Battling beneath ; the morning radiance rare 
Of his young brow amid the tumult there 

Grew grim with sulphurous dust and sanguine dew ; 
Yet through all soilure they who marked him knew 
The signs of his life's day spring, calm and fair. 
But when peace came, peace fouler far than war, 
And mirth more dissonant than battle's tone, 
He, with a scornful sigh of his clear soul, 
Back to his mountain clomb, now bleak and frore. 
And with the awful night he dwelt alone. 
In darkness, listening to the thunder's roll." 

Ernest Myers. 

"The egoism with which, all Milton's poetry is im- 
pregnated is the egoism of a glorious nature. If we 
were asked who in the eighteen Christian centuries 
stands before us as the highest approximation to what 
we conceive as Christian manhood, in which are rarely 
blended purity and passion, gracefulness and strength, 
sanctity and manifold fitness for all the worldly duties 



APPRECIATIONS XX i 

of the man and the citizen, we should scarcely hesitate 

to answer — John Milton." 

Rev. F. W. Robertson. 

"The genius and office of Milton were to ascend by 

the aids of his learning and his religion — by an 

equal perception, that is, of the past and the future — 

to a higher insight and more lively delineation of the 

heroic life of man. This was his poem ; whereof all 

his indignant pamphlets and all his soaring verses are 

only single cantos or detached stanzas. It was plainly 

needful that his poetry should be a version of his own 

life, in order to give weight and solemnity to his 

thoughts, by which they might penetrate and possess 

the imagination and the will of mankind. . . . His 

own conviction it is which gives such authority to his 

strain. Its reality is its force. If out of the heart it 

came, to the heart it must go." 

Emerson. 

'' Milton's sublimity is in every man's mouth. Is 
it felt that his poetry breathes a sensibility and 
tenderness hardly surpassed by its sublimity ? We 
apprehend that the grandeur of Milton's mind has 
thrown some shade over his milder beauties ; and this 
it has done, not only by being more striking and impos- 
ing, but by the tendency of vast mental energy to give 
a certain calmness to the expression of tenderness and 
deep feeling. A great mind is the master of its own 
enthusiasm, and does not often break out into those 
tumults which pass with many for the signs of pro- 
found emotion. Its sensibility, though more intense 
and enduring, is more self-possessed and less per- 



xxii A PPRECIA TIONS 

tiirbed than that of other men, and is therefore less 

observed and felt, except by those who understand, 

through their own consciousness, the workings and 

utterance of genuine feeling." 

Channing. 

" Milton's more elaborate passages have the multi- 
tudinous roll of thunder, dying away to gather a sul- 
len force again from its own reverberations, but he 
knew that the attention is recalled and arrested by 
those claps that stop short without echo and leave us 
listening. There are no such vistas and avenues of 
verse as his. In reading him one has a feeling of 
spaciousness such as no other poet gives. Milton's 
respect for himself and for his own mind and its 
movement rises wellnigh to veneration. He prepares 
the way for his thought and spreads on the ground 
before the sacred feet of his verse tapestries inwoven 
with figures of mythology and romance. There is no 

such unfailing dignity as his." 

Lowell. 



{Moseleifs Preface to the first edition of Milton's Poems, 1645.) 

'^THE STATIONER TO THE EEADEK 

"It is not any private respect of gain, Gentle 
Reader (for the slightest Pamphlet is nowadays more 
vendible than the works of learnedest men), but it is 
the love I have to our own Language, that hath made 
me delight to collect and set forth such Pieces, both 
in Prose and Verse, as may renew the wonted honour 
and esteem of our English tongue ; and it's the worth 
of these both English and Latin Poems, not the flour- 
ish of any prefixed encomions, that can invite thee to 
buy them — though these are not without the highest 
commendations and applause of the learnedest Aca- 
demicks, both domestic and foreign, and, amongst those 
of our own country, the unparalleled attestation of 
that renowned Provost of Eton, SIR HENRY AVOOT- 
TON. I know not thy palate, how it relishes such 
dainties, nor how harmonious thy soul is : perhaps 
more trivial Airs may please thee better. But, howso- 
ever thy opinion is spent upon these, that encourage- 
ment I have already received from the most ingenious 
men, in their clear and courteous entertainment of 
Mr. WALLER'S late choice Pieces, hath once more 
made me adventure into the world, presenting it with 
these ever-green and not to be blasted laurels. The 

xxiii 



XXIV PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 

Author's more peculiar excellency in these studies 
was too well knoAvn to conceal his Papers, or to keep 
nie from "uttempting to solicit them from him. Let 
the event guide itself which way it will, I shall 
deserve of the age by bringing into the light as true 
a birth as the Muses have brought forth since our 
famous SPENSER wrote ; whose Poems in these 
English ones are as rarely imitated as sweetly ex- 
celled. Reader, if thou art eagle-eyed to censure their 
worth, I am not fearful to expose them to thy exactest 
perusal. 

" Thine to command, 

"HUMPH. MOSELEY." 



CONTENTS 

•o* 

PAGE 

Preface vli 

Introduction xi 

Appreciations xix 

Moseley's Preface to the First Edition of 

Milton's Poems, 1645 xxiii 

1624 A Paraphrase on Psalm cxiv 1 

Psalm cxxxvi 2 

1626 On the Death of a Fair Infant dying of a Cough . 5 

1628 At a Vacation Exercise in the College 8 

1629 On the Morning of Christ's Nativity ..:... 12 

1630 Upon the Circumcision 22 

The Passion 23 

On Time 25 

At a Solemn Music 26 

Song on May Morning 27 

On Shakespeare 28 

1631 On the University Carrier 28 

Another on the Same ' . . . 29 

An Epitaph on the Marchioness of Winchester . . 30 

On his having arrived at the Age of Twenty-three . 33 

1633 To the Nightingale 33 

L' Allegro 34 

II Penseroso 39 

1634 Arcades 45 

Comus : 

Lawes' Dedication to the Edition of 1637 . . 49 
Sir Henry Wotton's Commendatory Letter, 

1638 49. 

The Persons 52 

The Text of Comus 53 

1637 Lycidas 87 

XXV 



XXVI CONTENTS 

PAGE 

1G42 When the Assault was intended to the City ... 94 

1644 To a Virtuous Young Lady 94 

To the Lady Margaret Ley 95 

1045 On the Detraction which followed upon my writing 

Certain Treatises 95 

On the Same 9(} 

1646 On the New Forcers of Conscience 97 

To Mr. H. Lawes on his Airs 97 

On the Religious Memory of Mrs. Catlierine 

Thomson 98 

1648 * On the Lord General Fairfax 99 

1652 ■ To the Lord General Cromwell 99 

To Sir Henry Vane the Younger 100 

1655 ' On the Late Massacre in Piedmont 101 

On his Blindness 101 

To Mr. Lawrence 102 

To Cyriack Skinner 102 

To the Same 103 

1658 On his Deceased Wife 104 

Chronological 105 

The Cambridge MSS 109 

Notes Ill 

Elegia Prima, Ad Carolnm Diodatum 243 

Elegia Sexta, Ad Carokim Diodatum 246 

Diodati (e te '1 diro, etc.) 249 

Epitaphium Damonis . 250 

Cowper's translation of : 

Elegy I. To Charles Deodati 258 

Elegy VI. To Charles Deodati 261 

Sonnet. To Charles Deodati 264 

On the Death of Damon , 265 

Notes to Poems on Diodati 276 

Index to First Lin^s 291 

Index to Words and Phrases explained in 

Notes 293 

References 298 



SHOETER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 



^K>>OiC 



A PARAPHEASE ON PSALM CXIV 

This and the following Psalm were done T}y the Aiithor at fifteen years old 

When the blest seed of Terah's faithful son 

After long toil their liberty had won, 

And passed from Pharian fields to Canaan-land, 

Led by the strength of the Almighty's hand, 

Jehovah's wonders were in Israel shown, 

His praise and glory was in Israel known. 

That saw the troubled sea, and shivering fled, 

And sought to hide his froth-becurled head 

Low in the earth ; Jordan's clear streams recoil. 

As a faint host that hath received the foil. 10 

The high huge-bellied mountains skip like rams 

Amongst their ewes, the little hills like lambs. 

Why fled the ocean ? and why skipped the mountains ? 

Why turned Jordan toward his crystal fountains ? 

Shake, Earth, and at the presence be aghast 

Of Him that ever was and aye shall last. 

That glassy floods from rugged rocks can crush. 

And make soft rills from fiery flint-stones gush. 

B 1 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 



PSALM CXXXVI 

Let us with a gladsome mind 
Praise the Lord for he is kind ; 

For his mercies aye endure, 

Ever faithful, ever sure. 

Let us blaze his name abroad, 
For of gods he is the God ; 
For his, &c. 

let us his praises tell, 

Who doth the wrathful tyrants quell ; 10 

For his, &c. 

Who with his miracles doth make 
Amazed heaven and earth to shake ; 
For his, &c. 

Who by his wisdom did create 

The painted heavens so full of state ; 

For his, &c. 19 

Who did the solid earth ordain 
To rise above the watery plain ; 
For his, &c. 

Who, by his all-commanding might. 
Did fill the new-made world with light ; 
For his, &c. 

And caused the golden-traced sun 
All the day long his course to run ; 30 

For his, &c. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 3 

The horned moon to shine by night 
Amongst her spangled sisters bright ; 
For his, &c. 

He, with his thunder-clasping hand, 
Smote the first-born of Egypt land ; 

For his, &c. 39 

And, in despite of Pharao fell, 
He brought from thence his Israel ; 
For his, &c. 

The ruddy waves he cleft in twain 
Of the Erythraean main ; 
For his, &c. 

The floods stood still, like walls of glass, 
While the Hebrew bands did pass ; 50 

For his, &c. 

But full soon they did devour 
The tawny king with all his power ; 
For his, &c. 

His chosen people he did bless 
In the wasteful wilderness ; 

For his, &c. 59 

In bloody battle he brought down 
Kings of prowess and renown; 
For his, &c. 

He foiled bold Seon and his host. 
That ruled the Amorrean coast ; 
For his, &c. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

And large limbed Og he did subdue, 
With all his over-hardy crew ; 70 

For his, &c. 

And to his servant Israel 
He gave their land, therein to dwell ; 
For his, &c. 

He hath, with a piteous eye. 
Beheld us in our misery ; 

For his, &c. 79 

And freed us from the slavery 
Of the invading enemy ; 
For his, &c. 

All living creatures he doth feed. 
And with full hand supplies their need ; 
For his, &c. 

Let us, therefore, warble forth 
His mighty majesty and worth; 90 

For his, &c. 

That his mansion hath on high. 
Above the reach of mortal eye ; ' 

For his mercies aye endure, 

Ever faithful, ever sure. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

ON THE DEATH OF A FAIR INFANT 
DYING OF A COUGH 

Anno ceiatis 17 "* 



FAIREST flower, no sooner blown but blasted, 
Soft silken primrose fading tinielessly. 
Summer's chief honour, if thou hadst outlasted 
Bleak Winter's force that made thy blossom dry ; 
For he, being amorous on that lovely dye 

That did thy cheek envermeil, thought to kiss. 
But killed, alas ! and then bewailed his fatal bliss. 

II 

For, since grim Aquilo, his charioteer, 

By boisterous rape the Athenian damsel got, 

He thought it touched his deity full near, 10 

If likewise he some fair one wedded not. 

Thereby to wipe away the infamous blot 

Of long uncoupled bed and childless eld. 
Which 'mongst the wanton gods a foul reproach was 
held. 

Ill 

So, mounting up in icy pearled car. 
Through middle empire of the freezing air 
He wandered long, till thee he spied from far ; 
There ended was his quest, there ceased his care : 
Down he descended from his snow soft chair. 

But, all unwares, with his cold-kind embrace, 20 
Unhoused thy virgin soul from her fair biding-place. 



6 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

IV 

Yet art thou not inglorious in thy fate ; 
For so Apollo, with unweeting hand, 
Whilom did slay his dearly-loved mate. 
Young Hyacinth, born on Eurotas' strand. 
Young Hyacinth, the pride of Spartan land ; 

But then transformed him to a purple flower : 
Alack, that so to change thee Winter had no power ! 



Yet can I not persuade me thou art dead, 
Or that thy corse corrupts in earth's dark womb, 30 
Or that thy beauties lie in wormy bed 
Hid from the world in a low-delved tomb ; 
Could Heaven, for pity, thee so strictly doom ? 
Oh no ! for something in thy face did shine 
Above mortality, that showed thou wast divine. 

VI 

Resolve me, then, Soul most surely blest 

(If so it be that thou these plaints dost hear) ! 

Tell me, bright Spirit, where'er thou hoverest. 

Whether above that high first-moving sphere, 

Or in the Elysian fields (if such there were), 40 

Oh, say me true if thou wert mortal wight. 
And why from us so quickly thou didst take thy flight. 

VII 

Wert thou some star, which from the ruined roof 
Of shaked Olympus by mischance didst fall ; 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 7 

Which careful Jove in nature's true behoof 

Took up, and in fit place did reinstal ? 

Or did of late Earth's sons besiege the wall 

Of sheeny Heaven, and thou some goddess fled 
Amongst us here below to hide thy nectared head ? 

VIII 

Or wert thou that just Maid who once before 50 

Forsook the hated earth, oh ! tell me sooth, 

And earnest again to visit us once more ? 

Or wert thou [Mercy], that sweet smiling Youth ? 

Or that crowned Matron, sage white-robed Truth ? 

Or any other of that heavenly brood 
Let down in cloudy throne to do the world some good ? 

IX 

Or wert thou of the golden-winged host, 

Who, having clad thyself in human weed. 

To earth from thy prefixed seat didst post. 

And after short abode fly back with speed, 60 

As if to show what creatures Heaven doth breed ; 

Thereby to set the hearts of men on fire 
To scorn the sordid world, and unto Heaven aspire ? 



But oh ! why didst thou not stay here below 
To bless us with thy heaven-loved innocence. 
To slake his wrath whom sin hath made our foe. 
To turn swift-rushing black perdition hence, 
Or drive away the slaughtering pestilence. 

To stand 'twixt us and our deserved smart ? 
But thou canst best perform that office where thou art. 70 



8 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

XI 

Then thou, the mother of so sweet a child, 
Her false-imagined loss cease to lament, 
And wisely learn to curb thy sorrows wild ; 
Think what a present thou to God hast sent. 
And render him with patience what he lent : 

This if thou do, he will an offspring give 
That till the world's last end shall make thy name to 
live. 



AT A VACATION EXERCISE IN THE COL- 
LEGE, PAET LATIN, PAIIT ENGLISH 

Amio (etatis 19 

The Latin Speeches ended, the EugUsh thus began: 

Hail, Native Language, that by sinews weak 

Didst move ni}^ first endeavouring tongue to speak. 

And mad'st imperfect words with childish trips. 

Half unpronounced, slide through my infant lips. 

Driving dumb Silence from the portal door. 

Where he had mutely sat two years before : 

Here I salute thee, and thy pardon ask 

That now I use thee in my latter task ! 

Small loss it is that thence can come unto thee ; 

I know my tongue but little grace can do thee. 10 

Thou need'st not be ambitious to be first ; 

Believe me, I have thither packed the worst : 

And, if it happen as I did forecast. 

The daintiest dishes shall be served up last. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 9 

I pray thee then deny me not thy aid, 

For this same small neglect that I have made ; 

But haste thee straight to do me once a pleasure, 

And from thy wardrobe bring thy chiefest treasure ; 

Not those new-fangled toys, and trimming slight 

Which takes our late fantastics with delight ; 20 

But cull those richest robes and gayest attire, 

Which deepest spirits and choicest wits desire. 

I have some naked thoughts that rove about, 

And loudly knock to have their passage out, 

And, weary of their place, do only stay 

Till thou hast decked them in thy best array; 

That so they may, without suspect or fears, 

Fly swiftly to this fair assembly's ears. 

Yet I had rather, if I were to choose. 

Thy service in some graver subject use, 30 

Such as may make thee search thy coffers round. 

Before thou clothe my fancy in fit sound : 

Such where the deep transported mind may soar 

Above the wheeling poles, and at Heaven's door 

Look in, and see each blissful deity 

How he before the thunderous throne doth lie. 

Listening to what unshorn Apollo sings 

To the touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings 

Immortal nectar to her kingly sire ; 

Then, passing through the spheres of watchful fire, 40 

And misty regions of wide air next under. 

And hills of snow and lofts of piled thunder, 

May tell at length how green-eyed Neptune raves. 

In heaven's defiance mustering all his waves ; 

Then sing of secret things that came to pass 

When beldam Nature in her cradle was ; 



10 SHOBTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

And last of kings and queens and heroes old, 

Such as the wise Demodocus once told 

In solemn songs at king Alcinous' feast, 

While sad Ulysses' soul and all the rest 50 

Are held, with his melodious harmony. 

In willing chains and sweet captivity. 

But fie, my wandering Muse, how thou dost stray ! 

Expectance calls thee now another way. 

Thou know'st it must be now thy only bent 

To keep in compass of thy Predicament. 

Then quick about thy purposed business come. 

That to the next I may resign my room. 

Then Ens is represented as Father of the Predicaments, 
his ten Sons; ivhereof the eldest stood for Substance 
with his Canons; ivhich Ens, thus speaking, explains : 

Good luck befriend thee, Son ; for at thy birth 

The faery ladies danced upon the hearth. 60 

The drowsy nurse hath sworn she did them spy 

Come tripping to the room where thou didst lie, 

And, sweetly singing round about thy bed, 

Strew all their blessings on thy sleeping head. 

She heard them give thee this, that thou shouldst still 

From eyes of mortals walk invisible. 

Yet there is something that doth force my fear ; 

For once it was my dismal hap to hear 

A sibyl old, bow-bent with crooked age. 

That far events full wisely could presage, 70 

And, in Time's long and dark prospective-glass, 

Foresaw what future days should bring to pass. 

" Your son," said she, " (nor can you it x^revent,) 

Shall subject be to many an Accident. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MiLTON 11 

O'er all his brethren he shall reign as king ; 

Yet every one shall make him underling, 

And those that cannot live from him asunder 

Ungratefully shall strive to keep him under. 

In worth and excellence he shall outgo them ; 

Yet, being above them, he shall be below them. 80 

From others he shall stand in need of nothing, 

Yet on his brothers shall depend for clothing. 

To find a foe it shall not be his hap, 

And peace shall lull him in her flowery lap ; 

Yet shall he live in strife, and at his door 

Devouring war shall never cease to roar ; 

Yea, it shall be his natural property 

To harbour those that are at enmity." 

What power, what force, what mighty spell, if not 

Your learned hands, can loose this Gordian knot ? 90 

The next, Quantity and Quality, spake in prose : then 
Relation was called by his name. 

Rivers, arise : whether thou be the son 

Of utmost Tweed, or Ouse, or gulfy Dun, 

Or Trent, who, like some earth-born giant, spreads 

His thirty arms along the indented meads. 

Or sullen Mole, that runneth underneath. 

Or Severn swift, guilty of maiden's death, 

Or rocky Avon, or of sedgy Lea, 

Or coaly Tyne, or ancient hallowed Dee, 

Or Humber loud, that keeps the Scythian's name. 

Or Medway smooth, or royal-towered Thame. lOO 

The rest ivas pjrose. 



12 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST'S NATIVITY 

Composed 1629 



This is the month, and this the happy morn. 
Wherein the Son of Heaven's eternal King, 
Of wedded maid and virgin mother born, 
Our great redemption from above did bring; 
For so the holy sages once did sing, 

That he our deadly forfeit should release, 
And with his Father Avork us a perpetual peace. 

II 

That glorious form, that light unsuiferable, 

And that far-beaming blaze of majesty. 

Wherewith he wont at Heaven's high council-table lO 

To sit the midst of Trinal Unity, 

He laid aside, and, here with us to be, 

Forsook the courts of everlasting day, 
And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay. 

Ill 

Sa}^, Heavenly ^luse, shall not thy sacred vein 

Aft'ord a present to the Infant God ? 

Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain. 

To welcome him to this his new abode, 

Now while the heaven, by the Sun's team untrod, 

Hath took no print of the approaching light, 20 

And all the spangled host keep watch in squadrons 
bright ? 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 13 

IV 

See how from far upon the eastern road 

The star-led wizards haste with odours sweet ! 

Oh ! run ; prevent them with thy humble ode, 

And lay it lowly at his blessed feet ; 

Have thou the honour first thy Lord to greet, 

And join thy voice unto the Angel Quire, 
From out his secret altar touched with hallowed fire. 



The Hymn 



It was the winter wild. 

While the heaven-born child 30 

All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies ; 
Nature, in awe to him. 
Had doffed her gaudy trim, 
With her great Master so to sympathize : 
It was no season then for her 
To wanton with the Sun, her lusty paramour. 

II 

Only with speeches fair 
She woos the gentle air 
To hide her guilty front with innocent snow, 

And on her naked shame, 40 

Pollute with sinful blame. 
The saintly veil of maiden white to throw ; 
Confounded, that her Maker's eyes 
Should look so near upon her foul deformities. 



14 .s//()/r7 •/•;/; roEM.s of ,/oil\ milton 



III 



But ho, her fears to cease, 
Sent down the meek-eyed Peace : 
She, crowiunl witli olive green, came softly sliding 
Down throuuh the turning sphere, 
His reaily harbinger. 
With turtle Aving the anun-ous clouds dividing ; ; 
And, waving wide her myrtle wand. 
She strikes a universal peace through sea and land. 



IV 

Xo war, or battle's sound, 
Was heard the world around ; 
The idle spear and shield wore high uphung; 
The hooked chariot stood. 
Unstained with hostile blood ; 
The trumpet spake not to the armed throng; 
And kings sat still with awful eye. 
As if they surely know their sovran Lord Avas by. m 



But }>oacoful was the night 
Wherein the Princo of Light 
His reign of peace upon the earth began. 
The winds, with wonder whist. 
Smoothly the waters kissed. 
Whispering new joys to the mild Ocean, 
Who now hath tpiito forgot to rave, 
While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmed wave. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 15 

VI 

The stars, with deep amaze, 

Stand fixed in steadfast gaze, 70 

Bending one way their precious influence, 
And will not take their flight. 
For all the morning light. 
Or Lucifer that often warned them thence ; 
But in their glimmering orbs did glow, 
Until their Lord himself bespake, and bid them go. 



VII 

And, though the shady gloom 
Had given day her room. 
The Sun himself withheld his wonted speed. 

And hid his head for shame, 80 

As his inferior flame 
The new-enlightened world no more should need: 
He saw a greater Sun appear 
Than his bright throne or burning axletree could bear. 



VIII 

The shepherds on the lawn, 
Or ere the point of dawn. 
Sat simply chatting in a rustic row ; 
Full little thought they than 
That the mighty Pan 
Was kindly come to live with them below : i)0 

Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep. 
Was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep. 



16 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

IX 

AVhen such music sweet 
Their hearts and ears did greet 
As never was by mortal linger strook, 
Divinely-warbled voice 
Answering the stringed noise, 
As all their souls in blissful rapture took : 
The air, such pleasure loth to lose, 99 

With thousand echoes still prolongs each heavenly 
close. 



Nature, that heard such sound 
Beneath the hollow round 
Of Cynthia's seat the Airy region thrilling, 
Now was almost won 
To think her part was done, 
And that her reign had here its last fulfilling : 
She knew such harmony alone 
Could hold all Heaven and Earth in happier union. 



XI 

At last surrounds their sight 
A globe of circular light, no 

That with long beams the shamefaced Night arrayed ; 
The helmed cherubim 
And sworded seraphim 
Are seen in glittering ranks with wings displayed. 
Harping in loud and solemn quire. 
With unexpressive notes, to Heaven's new-born Heir. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 17 



XII 



Such music (as 'tis said) 
Before was never made, 
But when of old the Sons of Morning sung, 

While the Creator great 120 

His constellations set. 
And the well-balanced World on hinges hung, 
And cast the dark foundations deep. 
And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep. 



XIII 

Ring out, ye crystal spheres ! 
Once bless our human ears, 
If ye have power to touch our senses so ; 
And let your silver chime 
Move in melodious time ; 
And let the bass of heaven's deep organ blow ; 130 
And with your ninefold harmony 
Make up full consort to the angelic symphony. 



XIV 

For, if such holy song 
Enwrap our fancy long. 
Time will run back and fetch the Age of Gold ; 
And speckled Vanity 
Will sicken soon and die. 
And leprous Sin will melt from earthly mould ; 
And Hell itself will pass away, 
And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day. 140 



18 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

XV 

Yea, Truth and Justice then 
Will down return to men, 
Orbed in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing, 
Mercy will sit between. 
Throned in celestial sheen. 
With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering ; 
And Heaven, as at some festival, 
AVill open wide the gates of her high palace-hall. 

XVI 

But wisest Fate says No, 

This must not yet be so ; 150 

The Babe yet lies in smiling infancy 
That on the bitter cross 
Must redeem our loss. 
So both himself and us to glorify : 
Yet iirst, to those ychained in sleep. 
The wakeful trump of doom, must thunder through 
the deep, 

XVII 

With such a horrid clang 
As on Mount Sinai rang. 
While the red fire and smouldering clouds outbrake : 
The aged Earth, aghast Kio 

With terror of that blast. 
Shall from the surface to the centre shake, 
When, at the world's last session. 
The dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread his 
throne. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 19 
XVIII 

And then at last our bliss 
Full and perfect is, 
But now begins ; for from this happy day 
The Old Dragon under ground, 
In straiter limits bound. 
Not half so far easts his usurped sway, ITO 

And, wroth to see his kingdom fail, 
Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail. 

XIX 

The Oracles are dumb; 
No voice or hideous liuui 
Euns through the arched roof in words deceiving. 
Apollo from his shrine 
Can no more divine. 
With hollow shriek the step of Delphos leaving. 
No nightly trance, or breathed spell, 179 

Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell. 

XX 

The lonely mountains o'er, 
And the resounding shore, 
A voice of weeping heard and loud lament ; 
From haunted spring, and dale 
Edged with poplar pale. 
The parting Genius is with sighing sent ; 
With flower-inwoven tresses torn 
The Nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets 
mourn. 



20 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

XXI 

In consecrated earth, 

And on the holy hearth, 190 

The Lars and Lemures inoan with midnight plaint ; 
In urns, and altars round, 
A drear and dying sound 
Affrights the flamens at their service quaint; 
And the chill marble seems to sweat. 
While each peculiar power forgoes his wonted seat. 



XXII 

Peor and Baalim 
Forsake their temples dim. 
With that twice-battered god of Palestine; 

And mooned Ashtaroth, 200 

Heaven's queen and mother both. 
Now sits not girt with tapers' holy shine : 
The Libyc Hammon shrinks his horn; 
In vain the Tyrian maids their wounded Thammuz 
mourn. 

XXIII -^ 

And sullen Moloch, fled, 
Hath left in shadows dread 
His burning idol all of blackest hue ; 
In vain with cymbals' ring 
They call the grisly king, 
In dismal dance about the furnace blue ; 210 

The brutish gods of Nile as fast, 
Isis, and Orus, and the dog Anubis, haste. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 21 

XXIV 

Nor is Osiris seen 
In Mempliian grove or green, 
Trampling the unshowered grass with lowings loud ; 
Nor can he be at rest 
Within his sacred chest ; 
Nought but profoundest Hell can be his shroud; 
In vain, with timbreled anthems dark, 
The sable-stoled sorcerers bear his worshiped ark. 220 

XXV 

He feels from Juda's land 

The dreaded Infant's hand ; 
The rays of Bethlehem blind his dusky eyn ; 
Nor all the gods beside 
Longer dare abide, 
Not Typhon huge ending in snaky twine : 
Our Babe, to show his Godhead true. 
Can in his swaddling bands control the damned crew. 

XXVI 

So, when the sun in bed. 

Curtained with cloudy red, 230 

Pillows his chin upon an orient wave, 
The flocking shadows pale 
Troop to the infernal jail. 
Each fettered ghost sli]3S to his several grave, 
And the yellow-skirted fays 

Fly after the night-steeds, leaving their moon-loved 
maze. 



22 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

XXVII 

But see ! the Virgin blest 
Hath laid her Babe to rest. 
Time is our tedious song should here have ending: 
Heaven's youngest-teemed star 240 

Hath fixed her polished car, 
Her sleeping Lord with handmaid lamp attending ; 
And all about the courtly stable 
Bright-harnessed Angels sit in order serviceable. 



UPON THE CIRCUMCISION 

Ye flaming Powers, and winged Warriors bright. 
That erst with music, and triumphant song. 
First heard by happy watchful shepherds' ear, 
So sweetly sung your joy the clouds along, 
Through the soft silence of the listening night, 
Now mourn ; and, if sad share with us to bear 
Your fiery essence can distil no tear. 
Burn in your sighs, and borrow 
Seas wept from our deep sorrow. 

He who with all Heaven's heraldry whilere lo 

Entered the world now bleeds to give us ease. 
Alas ! how soon our sin 
Sore doth begin 

His infancy to seize ! 

more exceeding love, or law more just ? 
Just law, indeed, but more exceeding love ! 
For we, by rightful doom remediless, 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 23 

Were lost in death, till he, that dwelt above 
High-throned in secret bliss, for us frail dust 
Emptied his glory, even to nakedness ; 20 

And that great covenant which we still transgress 
Entirely satisfied. 
And the full wrath beside 
Of vengeful justice bore for our excess. 
And seals obedience first with wounding smart 
This day ; but oh ! ere long, 
Huge pangs and strong 

Will pierce more near his heart. 



THE PASSION 

I 

Erewhtle of music, and ethereal mirth. 
Wherewith the stage of Air and Earth did ring, 
And joyous news of heavenly Infant's birth, 
My muse with Angels did divide to sing ; 
But headlong joy is ever on the wing. 

In wintry solstice like the shortened light 
Soon swallowed up in dark and long outliving night. 

II 
For now to sorrow must I tune my song, 
And set my harp to notes of saddest woe, 
Which on our dearest Lord did seize ere long, 10 

Dangers, and snares, and wrongs, and worse than so, 
Which he for us did freely undergo : 

Most perfect Hero, tried in heaviest plight 
Of labours huge and hard, too hard for human wight ! 



24 SHOE TEE POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

III 

He, sovran Priest, stooping his regal head, 
That dropt with odorous oil down his fair eyes, 
Poor fleshly tabernacle entered. 
His starry front low-roofed beneath the skies : 
Oh, what a mask was there, what a disguise ! 

Yet more : the stroke of death he must abide ; 20 
Then lies him meekly down fast by his brethren's side. 

IV 

These latest scenes confine my roving verse ; 
To this horizon is my Phoebus bound. 
His godlike acts, and his temptations fierce. 
And former sufferiugs, otherwhere are found; 
Loud o'er the rest Cremona's trump doth sound : 

Me softer airs befit, and softer strings 
Of lute, or viol still, more apt for mournful things. 

V 

Befriend me. Night, best patroness of grief ! 

Over the pole thy thickest mantle throw, 30 

And work my flattered fancy to belief 

That heaven and earth are coloured with my woe ; 

My sorrows are too dark for day to know : 

The leaves should all be black whereon I write. 
And letters, where my tears have washed, a wannish 
white. 

VI 

See, see the chariot, -and those rushing wheels. 
That whirled the prophet up at Chebar flood ; 
My spirit some transporting cherub feels 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 25 

To bear me wliere the towers of Salem stood, 

Once glorious towers, now sunk in guiltless blood. 40 

There doth my soul in holy vision sit, 
In pensive trance, and anguish, and ecstatic fit. 

YII 

Mine eye hath found that sad sepulchral rock 
That was the casket of Heaven's richest store, 
And here, though grief my feeble hands up-lock, 
Yet on the softened quarry would I score 
My plaining verse as lively as before ; 

For sure so well instructed are my tears 
That they would fitly fall in ordered characters. 

VIII 

Or, should I thence, hurried on viewless wing, so 

Take up a weeping on the mountains wild. 
The gentle neighbourhood of grove and spring 
Would soon unbosom all their echoes mild ; 
And I (for grief is easily beguiled) 

Might think the infection of my sorrows loud 
Had got a race of mourners on some pregnant cloud. 

This Subject the Author Jinding to be nJ>ore the years hehad wheii he wrote 
it, and nothing satisfied with what was begun, left it unfinished. 



ON TIME 

Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race : 
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping Hours, 
Whose speed is but the heavy plummet's pace; 
And gut thyself with what thy womb devours, 



26 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Which is no more than what is false and vain, 



And merely mortal dross; 

So little is our loss, 

So little is thy gain ! 

For, whenas each thing bad thou hast entombed, 

And, last of all, thy greedy self consumed, lO 

Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss 

With an individual kiss. 

And Joy shall overtake us as a flood ; 

When every thing that is sincerely good 

And perfectly divine, 

W^ith Truth, and Peace, and Love, shall ever shine 

About the supreme throne 

Of Him, to Avhose happy-making sight alone 

When once our heavenly-guided soul shall climb, 

Then, all this earthy grossness quit, 20 

Attired with stars we shall for ever sit, 

Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee, 
Time ! 



AT A SOLEMN MUSIC 

Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of Heaven's joy. 

Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice and Verse, 

Wed your divine sounds, and mixed power employ, 

Dead things with inbreathed sense able to pierce ; 

And to our high-raised phantasy present 

That undisturbed song of pure concent, 

Aye sung before the sapphire-coloured throne 

To Him that sits thereon, 

With saintly shout and solemn jubilee ; 

Where the bright Seraphim in burning row 10 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 27 

Their loud uplifted angel-trumpets blow, 

And the Cherubic host in thousand quires 

Touch their immortal harps of golden wires, 

With those just Spirits that wear victorious palms. 

Hymns devout and holy psalms 

Singing everlastingly : 

That we on Earth, with undiscording voice. 

May rightly answer that melodious noise ; 

As once we did, till disproportioned sin 

Jarred against nature's chime, and with harsh din 20 

Broke the fair music that all creatures made 

To their great Lord, whose love their motion swayed 

In perfect diapason, whilst they stood 

In first obedience, and their state of good. 

0, may we soon again renew that song. 

And keep in tune with Heaven, till God ere long 

To his celestial consort us unite. 

To live with Him, and sing in endless morn of light ! 



SONG ON MAY MORNING 

Now the bright morning-star, Day's harbinger. 
Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her 
The flowery May, who from her green lap throws 
The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose. 

Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire 

Mirth, and youth, and warm desire ! 

Woods and groves are of thy dressing ; 

Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing. 
Thus we salute thee with our early song, 
And welcome thee, and wish thee long. 10 



28 SIIOHrER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 



ON SHAKESPEARE 1630 

What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones 

The labour of an age in piled stones ? 

Or that his hallowed reliques should be hid 

Under a star-ypointing pyramid ? 

Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, 

What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name ? 

Thou in our wonder and astonishment 

Hast built thyself a livelong monument. 

For whilst, to the shame of slow-endeavoring art, 

Thy easy numbers flow, and that each heart 10 

Hath from the leaves of thy unvalued book 

Those Delphic lines with deep impression took. 

Then thou, our fancy of itself bereaving. 

Dost make us marble with too much conceiving, 

And so sepulchred in such pomp dost lie 

That kings for such a tomb would wish to die. 



ON THE UNIVERSITY CARRIER, 

Wlw sickened in the time of his Vacancy, being forbid to go to London by 
reason of the Plague 

Here lies old Hobson. Death hath broke his girt, 
And here, alas ! hath laid him in the dirt ; 
Or else, the ways being foul, twenty to one 
He's here stuck in a slough, and overthrown. 
'Twas such a shifter that, if truth were known. 
Death was half glad when he had got him down ; 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 29 

For he had any time this ten years full 

Dodged with him betwixt Cambridge and The Bull. 

And surely Death could never have prevailed, 

Had not his weekly course of carriage failed ; 10 

But lately, finding him so long at home, 

And thinking now his journey's end was come, 

And that he had ta'en up his latest inn, 

In the kind office of a chamberlin 

Showed him his room where he must lodge that night, 

l^ulled off his boots, and took away the light. 

If any ask for him, it shall be said, 

" Hobson has supped, and's newly gone to bed." 



ANOTHER ON THE SAME 

Here lieth one who did most tridy prove 

That he could never die while he could move; 

So hung his destiny, never to rot 

While he might still jog on and keep his trot; 

Made of sphere-metal, never to decay 

Until his revolution was at stay. 

Time numbers motion, yet (without a crime 

'Gainst old truth) motion numbered out his time ; 

And, like an engine moved with wheel and weight. 

His principles being ceased, he ended straight. lO 

Kest, that gives all men life, gave him his death. 

And too much breathing put him out of breath ; 

Nor were it contradiction to affirm 

Too long vacation hastened on his term. 



30 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Merely to drive the time away he sickened, 

Fainted, and died, nor would with ale be quickened. 

" Nay," quoth he, on his swooning bed outstretched, 

" If I mayn't carry, sure I'll ne'er be fetched, 

But vow, though the cross doctors all stood hearers. 

For one carrier put down to make six bearers." 20 

Ease was his chief disease ; and, to judge right. 

He died for heaviness that his cart went light. 

His leisure told him that his time was come, 

And lack of load made his life burdensome. 

That even to his last breath (there be that say't), 

As he were pressed to death, he cried, " More weight ! '' 

But, had his doings lasted as they were. 

He had been an immortal carrier. 

Obedient to the moon he spent his date 

In course reciprocal, and had his fate 30 

Linked to the mutual flowing of the seas ; 

Yet (strange to think) his wain was his increase. 

His letters are delivered all and gone ; 

Only remains this superscription. 



AN EPITAPH ON THE MARCHIONESS OF 
WINCHESTER 

This rich marble doth inter 

The honoured wife of Winchester, 

A Viscount's daughter, an Earl's heir, 

Besides what her virtues fair 

Added to her noble birth, 

More than she could own from Earth. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 31 

Summers three times eight save one 

She had told ; alas ! too soon, 

After so short time of breath, 

To house with darkness and with death ! lo 

Yet, had the number of her days 

Been as complete as was her praise, 

Nature and Fate had had no strife 

In giving limit to her life. 

Her high birth and her graces sweet 

Quickly found a lover meet ; 

The virgin quire for her request 

The god that sits at marriage-feast ; 

He at their invoking came, 

But with a scarce well-lighted flame ; 20 

And in his garland, as he stood. 

Ye might discern a cypress-bud. 

Once had the early matrons run 

To greet her of a lovely son. 

And now with second hope she goes. 

And calls Lucina to her throes ; 

But, whether by mischance or blame, 

Atropos for Lucina came. 

And with remorseless cruelty 

Spoiled at once both fruit and tree. 

The hapless babe before his birth 

Had burial, not yet laid in earth ; 

And the languished mother's womb 

Was not long a living tomb. 

So have I seen some tender slip. 

Saved with care from winter's nip, 

The pride of her carnation train, 

Plucked up by some unheedy swain, 



30 



32 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

AVho only thought to crop the flower 

New shot up from vernal shower ; 40 

But the fair blossom hangs the head 

Sideways, as on a dying bed, 

And those pearls of dew she wears 

Prove to be pressaging tears 

Which the sad morn had let fall 

On her hastening funeral. 

Gentle Lady, may thy grave 

Peace and quiet ever have ! 

After this thy travail sore, 

Sweet rest seize thee evermore, 50 

That, to give the world increase. 

Shortened hast thy own life's lease ! 

Here, besides the sorrowing 

That thy noble house doth bring, 

Here be tears of perfect moan ' 

AVeept for thee in Helicon ; 

And some flowers and some bays 

For thy hearse, to strew the ways. 

Sent thee from the banks of Came, 

Devoted to thy virtuous name ; 60 

AVhilst thou, bright Saint, high sitt'st in glory, 

Next her, much like to thee in story, 

That fair Syrian shepherdess. 

Who, after years of barrenness. 

The highly-favored Joseph bore 

To him that served for her before. 

And at her next birth, much like thee. 

Through pangs fled to felicity, 

Far within the bosom bright 

Of blazing Majesty and Light: 70 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 33 

There witli tliee, new-welcome Saint, 
Like fortunes may her soul acquaint, 
With thee there clad in radiant sheen, 
No Marchioness, but now a Queen. 



ON HIS HAVING AERIVED AT THE AGE 
OF TWENTY-THREE 

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, 

Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year ! 

My hasting days fly on with full career, 

But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th. 

Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth 
That I to manhood am arrived so near ; 
And inward ripeness doth much less appear. 
That some more timely-happy spirits endu'th. 

Yet, be it less or more, or soon or slow. 

It shall be still in strictest measure even lO 

To that same lot, however mean or high. 

Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven. 
AH is, if I have grace to use it so, 
As ever in my great Task-Master's eye. 



TO THE NIGHTINGALE 

Nightingale that on yon bloomy spray 

Warble st at eve, when all the woods are still, 
Thou with fresh hope the lover's heart dost fill, 



34 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

While the jolly hours lead on propitious May. 

Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day, 

First heard before the shallow cuckoo's bill, 
Portend success in love. 0, if Jove's will 
Have linked that amorous power to thy soft lay, 

Now timely sing, ere the rude bird of hate 9 

Foretell my hopeless doom, in some grove nigh ; 
As thou from year to year hast sung too late 

For my relief, yet hadst no reason why. 

Whether the Muse or Love call thee his mate, 
Both them I serve, and of their train am I. 



L'ALLEGRO 

Hence, loathed Melancholy, 

Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born 
In Stygian cave forlorn 

'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights un- 
holy ! 
Find out some uncouth cell. 

Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings. 
And the night-raven sings ; 

There, under ebon shades and low-browed rocks, 
As ragged as thy locks. 

In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell. lo 

But come, thou Goddess fair and free, 
In heaven yclept Euphrosyne, 
And by men heart-easing Mirth ; 
Whom lovely Venus, at a birth, 



-y^ 



SHOBTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 35 

With two sister Graces more, 
To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore : 
Or whether (as some sager sing) 
The frolic wind that breathes the spring, 
Zephyr, with Aurora playing. 
As he met her once a-Maying, 20 

There, on beds of violets blue, 
And fresh-blown roses washed in dew, 
Filled her with thee, a daughter fair. 
So buxom, blithe, and debonair. 
Haste thee. Nymph, and bring with thee 
Jest, and youthful Jollity, 
Quips and Cranks and wanton Wiles, 
Nods and Becks and wreathed Smiles, 
Such as hang on Hebe's cheek. 
And love to live in dimple sleek ; 30 

Sport that wrinkled Care derides. 
And Laughter holding both his sides. 
Come, and trip it, as you go. 
On the light fantastic toe ; 
And in thy right hand lead with thee 
The mountain-nymph, sweet Liberty ; 
And, if I give thee honour due. 
Mirth, admit me of thy crew, 
To live with her, and live with thee, 
In unreproved pleasure free ; 40 

To hear the lark begin his flight. 
And, singing, startle the dull night, 
From his watch-tower in the skies, 
""' Till the dappled dawn doth rise 
Then to come, in spite of sorrow. 
And at my window bid good-morrow, 



SIIOliTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Through the sweet-briar or the vine, 

Or the twisted eglantine ; 

While the cock, with lively din, 

Scatters the rear of darkness thin ; 50 

And to the stack, or the barn-door, 

Stoutly struts his dames before: ,/' 

Oft listening how the hounds and horn 

Cheerly rouse the slumbering morn. 

From the side of some hoar hill, 

Through the high wood echoing shrill : 

Sometime w^alking, not unseen, 

By hedgerow elms, on hillocks green. 

Right against the eastern gate 

Where the great Sun begins his state, 60 

Robed in flames and amber light, 

The clouds in thousand liveries dight ; 

While the ploughman, near at hand, 

Whistles o'er the furrowed land. 

And the milkmaid singeth blithe, 
^ And the mower whets his scythe, '^^''^"^ 

And every shepherd tells his tale / 

Under the hawthorn in the dale. ^ 

Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures, 

Whilst the landskip round it measures : 70 

"^Russet lawns, and fallows grey, -^-«» 

Where the nibbling flocks do stray ; 

Mountains on whose barren breast 

The labouring clouds do often rest; 

Meadows trim, with daisies pied ; 

Shallow brooks, and rivers wide ; 

Towers and battlements it;sees 

Bosomed high in tufted trees. 




SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON . 37 

Where perhaps some beauty lies, I 

The cynosure of neighbourinu: eyes, ^y/ 80 

Hard by a cottage chimiuiy smokes 

From betwixt two aged oaks, ""----.>_ 

Where Corydon and Thyrsis met 

Are at their savoury dinner set 

Of herbs and other country messes. 

Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses ; 

And then in haste her bower she leaves, 

With Thestylis to bind the sheaves ; ''^'^ 

Or, if the earlier season lead. 

To the tanned haycock in the mead.^— - 90 

Sometimes, with secure delight, 

The upland hamlets will invite, 

When the merry bells ring round, 

And jocund rebecks sound 

To many a youth and many a maid 

Dancing in the chequered shade. 

And young and old come forth to play 

On a sunshine holiday, y 

Till the livelong daylight fail : -jr 

Then to the spicy nut-brown ale, 100 

-With stories told of many a feat. 

How Faery Mab the junkets eat. 

She was pinched and pulled, she said ; 

And he, by Friar's lantern led. 

Tells how the drudging goblin sweat ' o ' 

To earn his cream-bowl duly set. 

When in one night, ere glimpse of morn, 

His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn 

That ten day-labourers could not end ; 

Then lies him down, the lubber fiend, lio 



38 SIIOBTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

And, stretched out all the chimney's length, 
Basks at the fire his hairy strength, 
And crop-full out of doors he flings, 
"Ere the first cock his matin rings. 
Thus done the tales, to bed they creep. 
By whispering winds soon lulled asleep. 
Towered cities please us then, 
And the busy hum of uien, 
Where throngs of knights and barons bold, 
In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold, 120 

With store of ladies, whose bright eyes 
Rain influence, and judge the prize 
Of wit or arms, while both contend 
To win her grace whom all comniQud. 
There let Hymen oft appear 
In saffron robe, with taper clear, v^.-"'''''^—^ 
And pomp, and feast, and revelry, 
With mask and antique pageantry ; 
Such sights as youthful poets dream 
On summer eves by haunted stream. 130 

Then to the well-trod stage anon. 
If Jonson's learned sock be on. 
Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child, 
Warble his native wood-notes wild. 
And ever, against eating cares, 
Lap me in soft Lydian airs, 
Married to immortal verse, 
Such as the meeting soul may pierce. 
In notes with many a winding bout 
Of linked sweetness long drawn out 140 

With wanton heed and giddy cunning. 
The melting voice through mazes running, 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 39 

Untwisting all the chains that tie 

The hidden soul of harmony ; 

That Orpheus' self may heave his head 

From golden slumber on a bed 

Of heaped Ely si an flowers, and hear 

Such strains as would have won the ear 

Of Pluto to have quite set free 

His half-regained Eurydice. ^-" 150 

These delights if thou canst give, 

Mirth, with thee 1 mean to live. 



IL PENSEROSO 

Hence, vain deluding Joys, 

The brood of Folly without father bred ! 
How little you bested, 

Or fill the fixed mind with all your toys ! 
Dwell in some idle brain. 

And fancies fond with gaudy shapes possess. 
As thick and numberless 

As the gay motes that people the sun-beams. 
Or likest hovering dreams, 

The fickle pensioners of Morpheus' train. lO 
But, hail ! thou Goddess sage and holy ! 
Hail, divinest Melancholy ! 
Whose saintly visage is too bright 
To hit the sense of human sight. 
And therefore to our weaker view 
O'erlaid with black, staid Wisdom's hue ; 



40 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 



Blaclf^ but such as in esteem 

Prince Memnon's sister might beseem, 

Or that starred Ethiop queen that strove 

To set her beauty's praise above 20 

The Sea-Nymphs, and their powers offended. 

Yet thou art higher far descended : 

Thee bright-haired Vesta long of yore 

To solitary Saturn bore ; 

His daughter she ; in Saturn's reign 

Such mixture was not held a stain. 

Oft in glimmering bowers and glades 

He met her, and in secret shades 

Of woody Ida's inmost grove, 
_Whilst_yet there was no fear of Jove. 30 

Come, pensive Nun, devout and pure, 

Sober, steadfast, and demure. 

All in a robe of darkest grain. 

Flowing with majestic train. 

And sable stole of cypress lawn 

Over thy decent shoulders drawn. 

Come ; but keep thy wonted state. 

With even step, and musing gait. 

And looks commercing with the skies, 

Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes : 40 

There, held in holy passion still. 

Forget thyself to marble, till 

With a sad leaden downward cast 

Thou fix them on the earth as fast. 
lAnd join with thee calm Peace and Quiet, 
' Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet, 

And hears the Muses in a ring 

Aye round about Jove's altar sing ; 



r^ 



GO 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 41 

And add to these retired Leisure, 
That in trim gardens takes his pleasure ; 50 

But, first and chiefest, with thee bring 
Him that yon soars on golden wing. 
Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne, 
The Cherub Contemplatio n; J 
And the mute Silence hist along, 
'Less Philomel will deign a song. 
In her sweetest saddest plight, 
Smoothing the rugged brow of Night, 
While Cynthia checks her dragon yoke 
riently o'er the accustomed oak. 
Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, 
'v. Most musical, most melancholy ! 

Thee, chauntress, oft the woods among 
I woo, to hear thy even-song ; 
And, missing thee, I walk unseen 
'^''^ On the dry -smooth-shaven green, ' 
To behold the wandering moon, 

Kiding near her highest noon. 

Like one that had been led astray 

Through the heaven's wide pathless way, 70 

And oft, as if her head she bowed, 

Stooping through a fleecy cloud. 

Oft, on a plat of rising ground, 

I hear the far-off curfew sound. 

Over some wide- watered shore, 

Swinging slow with sullen roar ; 

Or, if the air will not permit, 

Some still removed place will fit. 

Where glowing embers through the room 

Teach light to counterfeit a gloom, 80 



42 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Far from all resort of mirth, 

Save the cricket on the lieartli, 

Or the bellman's drowsy charm 

To bless the doors from nightly harm. 

Or let my lamp, at midnight hour, 

Be seen in some high lonely tower, 

Where I may oft ontwatch the Bear, 

With thrice great Hermes, or unsphere 

The spirit of Plato, to unfold 

What worlds or what vast regions hold 90 

The immortal mind that hath forsook 

Her mansion in this fleshly nook ; 

And of those demons that are found 

In fire, air, flood, or underground. 

Whose power hath a true consent 

With planet or with element. 

Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy 

In sceptred pall come sweeping by, 

Presenting Thebes, or Pelops' line, 

Or the tale of Troy divine, 100 

Or what (though rare) of later age 

Ennobled hath the buskined stage 

But, sad Virgin ! that thy power 

Might raise Musseus from his bower; 

Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing 

Such notes as, warbled to the string. 

Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek. 

And made Hell grant what love did seek ; 

Or call up him that left half -told 

The story of Cambuscan bold, llO 

Of Camball, and of Algarsife, 

And who had Canace to wife, 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 43 

That owned the virtuous ring and glass, 

And of the wondrous horse of brass 

On which the Tartar king did ride ; 

And if aught else great bards beside 

In sage and solemn tunes have sung, 

Of turneys, and of trophies hung. 

Of forests, and enchantments drear, 

Where *more is meant than meets the ear. 120 

Thus, Night, oft see me in thy pale career, 

Till civil-suited Morn appear. 

Not tricked and frounced, as she was wont 

With the Attic boy to hunt, 
But kerchieft in a comely cloud, 
While rockhig winds are piping loud. 
Or ushered with a shower still, 
When the gust hath blown his till. 
Ending on the rustling leaves, 
^ With minute-drops from off the eaves. < " 130 
And, when the sun begins to fling 
His flaring beams, me. Goddess, bring 
To arched walks of twilight groves, 
And shadows brown, that Sylvan loves. 
Of pine, or monumental oak, 
Where the rude axe with heaved stroke 
Was never heard the nymphs to daunt, 
Or fright them from their hallowed haunt. 
There, in close covert, by some brook, 
Where no profaner eye may look, 140 

Hide me from day's garish eye, 
^ While the bee with honeyed thigh, ^' 
That at her flowery work doth sing. 
And the waters murmuring. 



44 SIlOIiTKIi POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Witli such consort as they keep, 

Entice the dewy-feathered Sleep. 

And let some strange mysterious dream 

Wave at his Avings, in airy stream 

or lively portraiture displayed, 

Softly on my eyelids laid ; 150 

And, as I wake, sweet music breathe 

Above, about, or underneath, 

Sent by some Spirit to inortals good, 

Or the un seen Geni.ua_QLthii-iW)od. 

' J>ut let my due feet never faiP 
To walk the studious cloister's pale, 
And love the high embowed roof, 
AVith antique pillars massy-proof, 
And storied windows richly dight, 
Casting a dim religious light. IGO 

There let the pealing organ blow, 
To the full-voiced quire below, 
In service high and anthems clear, 
As may with swe^etness, through mine ear, 
Dissolve me into ecstasies, 
And bring all Heaven bct'()re^-miii s_eyes. 
And may at last niv wcarv age 
Find out the peaceful hermitage. 
The hairy gown and mossy cell, 
AVliere I may sit and rightly spell 170 

Of every star that heaven doth shew, 
And every herb that sips the dew, 
Till old experience do attain 
To something like prophetic strain. 
These pleasures, INIelancholy, give ; 

vAnd I with thee will choose to live. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 45 



ARCADES 

Part of an Entertainment presented to the Countess 
Dowager of Derby at Ilarejield hy some Noble Per- 
sons of her Family ; who appear on the Scene in 
2)astoral habit, moving toward the seat of state, with 
this song : 

I. JSong 

Look, Nymphs and Shepherds, look ! 
What sudden blaze of majesty 
Is that which we from hence descry, 
Too divine to be mistook ? 

This, this is she 
To whom our vows and wishes bend : 
Here our solemn search hath end. 
Fame, that her high worth to raise 
Seemed erst so lavish and profuse, 
We may justly now accuse 10 

Of detraction from her praise : 

Less than half we find expressed ; 

Envy bid conceal the rest. 

Mark what radiant state she spreads, 
In circle round her shining throne 
Shooting her beams like silver threads: 
This, this is she alone, 

Sitting like a goddess bright 

In the centre of her light. 

Might she the wise Latona be, 20 

Or the towered Cybele, 



S- 



46 SHORTKIi POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Mother of a Imndred gods ? 
Juno dares not give her odds : 

Who had thonglit this clime had hehl 

A deity so unparalleled ? 

As then come fonvai'd, the Genius of the Wood 
appears, and, turning toward the in, speaks. 

Gen. Stay, gentle Swains, for, though in this disguise, 
I see bright honour sparkle through your eyes ; 
Of famous A ready ye are, and sprung 
Of that renowned flood, so often sung, 
Divine Alpheus, who, b}^ secret sluice, 30 

Stole under seas to meet his Arethuse ; 
And ye, the breathing roses of the Avood, 
Fair silver-buskined Nymphs, as great and good. 
I know this quest of yours and free intent 
Was all in honour and devotion meant 
To the great mistress of yon princely shrine, 
Whom with low reverence I adore as mine. 
And with all helpful service will comply 
To further this night's glad solemnity, 
And lead ye where ye may more near behold 40 

What shallow-searching Fame hath left untold; 
Which I full oft, amidst these shades alone, 
Have sat to wonder at, and gaze upon. 
For know, by lot from Jove, I am the Power 
Of this fair wood, and live in oaken bower. 
To nurse the saplings tall, and curl the grove 
With ringlets quaint and wanton windings wove ; 
And all my plants I save from nightly ill 
Of noisome winds and blasting vapours chill ; 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 47 

And from the boughs brush off the evil dew, 50 

And heal the harms of thwarting thunder blue, 

Or what the cross dire-looking planet smites, 

Or hurtful worm with cankered venom bites. 

When evening grey doth rise, I fetch my round 

Over the mount, and all this hallowed ground ; 

And early, ere the odorous breath of morn 

Awakes the slumbering leaves, or tasselled horn 

Shakes the high thicket, haste I all about. 

Number my ranks, and visit every sprout 

With puissant words and murmurs made to bless. W) 

But else, in deep of niglit, when drowsiness 

Hath locked up mortal sense, then listen I 

To the celestial Sirens' harmony, 

That sit upon the nine infolded spheres, 

And sing to those that hold the vital shears. 

And turn the adamantine spindle round 

On which the fate of gods and men is wound. 

Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie, 

To lull the daughters of Necessity, 

And keep unsteady Nature to her law, 70 

And the low world in measured motion draw 

After the heavenly tune, which none can hear 

Of human mould with gross unpurged ear. 

And yet such music worthiest were to blaze 

The peerless height of her immortal praise 

Whose lustre leads us, and for her most fit. 

If my inferior hand or voice could hit 

Inimitable sounds. Yet, as we go, 

AVhate'er the skill of lesser gods can show 

I will assay, her worth to celebrate, 80 

And so attend ye toward her glittering state; 



IS 



siionri:!^ iu)1':ms or joiix miltox 



WluMV yt' may all, that i\n^ of iioblo stem, 
Approai'li, ami kiss Ium- sacred vc^sturo's hom. 

II. S())i(j 

()\m' tlu' smootli (MiaimdKnl i;ihhmi, 
W'hoiv no print o[' stt^p lialh bocMi, 

Follow nu\ as 1 sini; 

And ti>m'h tlio warblod strinq;: 
UndtM' tho sliaily i'oo( 
Oi' branchini;' olm star-pi\H)f 

Follow mo. 
T will brini;' you whoro she sits, 
C'hul in spKMulor as bolits 

II or doity. 
Sui'li a. rural (.^uihmi 
All .Vrcadia hath not soon. 



90 



111. Soiiij 

^'ymi>hs and Shophords, ihuu'O no moro 

l>v saudv Ladon's liliod banks; 
On old byi'anis, ov C'yllono hoar, 

Trip no moro in twilight ranks ; 
Though -Fry mauth your loss doplore, 

A bettor soil shall give ye thanks. 
From the sti>ny MuMialus 
Ib-ing your tlooks, autl live with us; 
Hero yo shall have greater graee. 
To serve the Lady of this plaee. 
Though Syrinx your Tan's mistress were, 
Yet Syrinx well might wait on her. 

Sueh a rural Queen 

All Areailia hath not seen. 



1(H) 



su()ii'n<:ii /'o/cM/.s of ,1011 n milton 4t) 
COMUS 

"a MASC^dK I'ltlCSKNTKI) A I' MIKI.OW (JAHILK, l()'>f, (S^C." 

(For the Tltlc-pagOH of tlio KditiDiis of l():!7 and ICdT) soe Notes id, i>. 174 

ami |i. \1'k) 

I)IC1)Ic;ati()n ok i.awics' kdition ok lO;}?. 

(i:f|.riiitr(l in tii<' Ivlition of ICilf), hul ninitlcd in that of 1073.) 

"7V> the Bight Ilommrahle John., Lord Brarklcy, son. ami hv.ir- 
(ipparcnt to the Karl of liridf/rivitcr, (I'r,," 
" My Lord, 

"This rocni, which received its (irsl oecasioii of 
hirtii from yotirs(!lf and others of your nol)l(! family, and mueh 
honour from your own person in the performance, now i-elurns 
again to make a final dedication of itscdf to you. Allliou,i;li not 
openly acknowled<f(!d l)y the Author, y(!t it is a legitimate off- 
spring, so lovely and so much desired that the often copying of 
it hath tired my ])en to give; my several friends satisfaction, and 
brought mo to a necessity of pnxhicing it to th(! jjiihlic vii-w, 
and now to offer it up, in all rightful devotion, to those fair 
liopes and rare endowments of your nuKih-promising youth, 
which give a full assuran(;e to all that know you of a, future 
excellence. Live, sweet Lord, to be the honour of your u;in\v, ; 
and receive this as your own from the hands of him who hath 
by many favours been long oljliged to your most lioiionrcd 
Parents, and, as in this n^presentat ion your attendant, 'J'/i;/rsis, 
so now in all rcuil expression 

"Your faithful and most humble Servant, 

" IL Lawes." 

^"■The Copy of a Letter virittcn by AVr Henry Wotton to the 
Author upon the following poem.'''' 

(In the Edition of 1(545 : omittod In that of \i\Vi.) 

" From tlu! Coilc^ft", this 1:5 of Ai)ril, 1G38. 

" Sir, 

" It was a special favour when you lately bestowed 

upon me here the first taste of your ac(iuaiiitanc(!, though no 



50 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

longer than to make me know that I wanted more time to value 
it and to enjoy it rightly ; and, in truth, if I could then have 
imagined your farther stay in these parts, which I understood 
afterwards by Mr. H., I would have been bold, in our vulgar 
phrase, to mend my draught (for you left me with an extreme 
thirst), and to have begged your conversation again, jointly 
with your said learned friend, over a poor meal or two, that 
we might have banded together some good Authors of the 
ancient time ; among which I observed you to have been 
familiar. 

"Since your going, you have charged me with new obliga- 
tions, both for a very kind letter from you dated the 6th of this 
month, and for a dainty piece of entertainment which came 
therewith. Wherein I should much commend the tragical part, 
if the lyrical did not ravish me with a certain Doric delicacy 
in your Songs and Odes, whereunto I must plainly confess to 
have seen yet nothing parallel in our language : Ipsa mollities. 
But I must not omit to tell you that I now only owe you thanks 
for intimating unto me (how modestly soever) the true arti- 
ficer. For the work itself 1 had viewed some good while before 
with singular delight ; having received it from our common 
friend Mr. R., in the very close of the late R.'s Poems, printed 
at Oxford : whereunto it was added (as I now suppose) that 
the accessory might help out the principal, according to the 
art of Stationers, and to leave the reader con la bocca dolce. 

" Now, Sir, concerning your travels ; wherein I may challenge 
a little more privilege of discourse with you. I suppose you 
will not blanch Paris in your way : therefore I have been bold 
to trouble you with a few lines to Mr. M. B., whom you shall 
easily find attending the young Lord S. as his governor ; and 
you may surely receive from him good directions for the shap- 
ing of your farther journey into Italy where he did reside, by 
my choice, some time for the King, after mine own recess from 
Venice. 

" I should think that your best line will be through the whole 
length of France to Marseilles, and thence by sea to Genoa ; 
whence the passage into Tuscany is as diurnal as a Gravesend 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 51 

barge. I hasten, as you do, to Florence or Siena, the rather to 
tell you a short story, from the interest you have given me in 
your safety. 

"At Siena I was tabled in the house of one Alberto Scipioni, 
an old Roman courtier in dangerous times ; having been steward 
to the Duca di Pagliano, who with all his family were strangled, 
save this only man that escaped by foresight of the tempest. 
With him I had often much chat of those affairs, into which 
he took pleasure to look back from his native harbour; and, 
at my departure toward Home (which had been the centre of 
his experience), I had won his confidence enough to beg his 
advice how 1 might carry myself there without offence of others 
or of mine own conscience. '■Signor Arrigo mio,^ says he, ' / 
pensieri stretti ed il viso sciolto will go safely over the whole 
world.' Of which Delphian oracle (for so I have found it) 
your judgment doth need no commentary ; and therefore, Sir, 
I will commit you, with it, to the best of all securities, God's 
dear love, remaining 

" Your friend, as much to command as any of longer date, 

" Henry Wotton." 

Postscript 

" Sir : I have expressly sent this my footboy to prevent your 
departure without some acknowledgment from me of the re- 
ceipt of your obliging letter ; having myself through some busi- 
ness, I know not how, neglected the ordinary conveyance. In 
any part where I shall understand you fixed, I shall be glad 
and diligent to entertain you with home -novelties, even for 
some fomentation of our friendship, too soon interrupted in 
the cradle." 



Cy2 .s7/()/; /•/•;/; i'()i:.ms or joiix milion 



'I'llK risKSON'S 

riu' ArriNDwr Sriuir. aftiMwanls in [\\c habit oi Tuvksi; 
(\mh s. witli liis C'it>\v. 

'PllK li.VOV. 

SviiKiN \, tlu> Nymph. 

rho CMiii^t" IVm'sous wliii'h iM-ostMitiMl wi'vo : 

Vhc l,(>rtl I'M-ai'klcv ; 

Ml'. IMuMuas l-'',i;t'V(on, his Hvolhi^r; 



[ riiis li.st of Il«> r»M-S(>ns, I'i.iv, appoaivil in tlu- Kdilioii ofl(il.\ but was niiiittod 

in that of UM.'i.J 



SIlOHTEli POKMH OF JOHN MILTON r>;J 



COMUS 
The first Scene discovers a wild wood 

'I'lic Atticnkan r Mi-iiti'i' iIi'hccikIh or fiitci-N 

ni<:K(n:K Mi(^ starry threshold ol' .love's eourt 
My iiiaiisiou is, when^ tliosc iiiiiiiorlal shapes 
Of" l)ri^lil aerial si)iril.s live iiisphcired 
III regions mild oi' calm and serene air, 
Above the sniokc; and stir of tliis dim spot 
Wliieh men call l^^arth, and, with lovv-t.hoiighted care, 
(/onlined and jiestered in this pinl'old here, 
Strive t,o luu^p np a IVail and I'everish being, 
nnniindfnl of the crown that Virtue gives. 
After this mortal c-lumge, to her true servants 10 

Amongst tlu^ enthroned gods on sainted stuits. 
Vet some then^ b(^ that by (lu(^ Ht(^ps as))ir<^ 
To lay their just hands on that golden key 
That ojx's the paJa,ee of (^Uu'nity. 
'\\) such my errajid is; and, but for sucih, 
I would not soil thesi; pure ambrosial weeds 
With the rank va])ours of this sin-worn mould. 
But to my task. ^ Neptune, besides the sway 
Of (!very salt flood aiul ea.eli ebbing stream, 
Took in, by lot 'twixt high and nether Jove, 20 

Imperial rule of all tlu^ sea-girt isles 
That, lik(^ to rich and various gems, inlay 
'V\\c, unadorned bosom oi" the dec^j); 
VVhicli he, to gra({e his tributary gods, 
Hy (M)urse (U)i)iniits to sev<'ral govei'ument, 



54 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

And gives them leave to wear their sapphire crowns 

And wiekl their little tridents. But this Isle, 

The greatest and the best of all the main, 

He quarters to his blue-haired deities ; 

And all this tract that fronts the falling sun 30 

A noble Peer of niickle trust and power 

Has in his charge, with tempered awe to guide 

An old and haughty nation, proud in arms : 

Where his fair offspring, nursed in princely lore, 

Are coming to attend their father's state. 

And new-intrusted sceptre.J^ But their way 

Lies through the perplexed paths of this drear wood, 

The nodding horror of whose shady brows 

Threats the forlorn and wandering passenger ; 

And here their tender age might suffer peril, 40 

But that, by quick command from sovran Jove, 

I was despatched for their defence and guard ! 

And listen why ; for I will tell you now 

What never yet was heard in tale or song. 

From old or modern bard, in liall or bower. 

Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape 
Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine, " 
After the Tuscan mariners transformed. 
Coasting the Tyrrhene shore, as the winds listed, 
On Circe's island fell. (Who knows not Circe, 50 

The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup 
Whoever tasted lost his upright shape 
And downward fell into a grovelling swine ?) 
This Nymph, that gazed upon his clustering locks 
With ivy berries wreathed, and his blithe youth. 
Had by him, ere he parted thence, a son 
Much like his father, but his mother more. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 55 

Whom therefore she brought up, and Conius named : 

Who, ripe and frolic of his full-grown age. 

Roving the Celtic and Iberian fields, 60 

At last betakes him to this ominous Avood, 

And, in thick shelter of black shades imbowered, 

Excels his mother at her mighty art ; 

Offering to every weary traveller 

His orient liquor in a crystal glass, 

To quench the drouth of Phoebus ; which as they taste 

(For most do taste through fond intemperate thirst), 

Soon as the potion works, their human count'nance, 

The express resemblance of the gods, is changed 

Into some brutish form of wolf or bear, 70 

Or ounce or tiger, hog, or bearded goat, 

All other parts remaining as they were. 

And they, so perfect is their misery, 

Not once perceive their foul disfigurement, 

But boast themselves more comely than before, 

And all their friends and native home forget. 

To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty. 

Therefore, when any favoured of high Jove 

Chances to pass through this adventurous glade, 

Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star 80 

I shoot from heaven, to give him safe convoy. 

As now I do. But first I must put off 

These my sky-robes spun out of Iris' woof, 

And take the weeds and likeness of a swain 

That to the service of this house belongs. 

Who, with his soft pipe and smooth-dittied song. 

Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar, 

And hush the waving woods ; nor of less faith. 

And in this office of his mountain watch 




56 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Likeliest, and nearest to the present aid 90 

Of this occasion. But I hear the tread 
Of hateful steps ; I must be viewless now. 

Com us enters, with a charming-rod in one hand, Iiis glass in the other ; 
with him a rout of monsters, headed like sxindri/ sorts of icild beasts, 
hut otherioise like men and ivomen, their apparel glistening. They 
come in making a /•iotous and unruly noise, with torches in their 
hands 

f 

Coinus. The star that bids the shepherd fold 
Now the top of heaven doth hold ; 
And the gilded car of day 
His glowing axle doth allay 
In the steep Atlantic stream : 
And the slope sun his upward beam 
Shoots against the dusky pole, 

Pacing toward the other goal 100 

Of his chamber in the east. 
Meanwhile, welcome joy and feast, 
Midnight shout and revelry, 
Tipsy dance and jollity. 
Braid your locks with rosy twine, 
Propping odours, dropping wine, 
liigoiir now is gone to bed ; 
And Advice with scrupulous head, 
Strict Age, and sour Severity, 

With their grave saws, in slumber lie. lio 

We, that are of purer fire, 
Imitate the starry quire, 
Who, in their nightly watchful spheres. 
Lead in swift rouiul the months and years. 
T^he sounds and seas, with all their finny drove, 
Now to the moon in waverins: morrice move ; 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 57 

And on the tawny sands and shelves 

Trip the pert fairies and the dapper elves. 

By dimpled brook and fountain-brim, 

The wood-nymphs, decked with daisies trim, I'JO 

Their merry wakes and pastimes keep : 

What hath night to do with sleep ? 

Night hath better sweets to prove ; 

Venns now wakes, and wakens Love. 

Come, let us our rites begin ; 

'Tis only daylmht that makes sin, 

Which these aJmsfiades will ne'er report. 

Hail, goddess of nocturnal sport. 

Dark-veiled (?!otytfc^^^whom the secret flame 

Of midnight torches burns ! mysterious dame, 130 

That ne'er art called but when the dragon womb 

Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom, 

And makes one blot of all the air ! 

Stay thy cloudy ebon chair. 

Wherein thou ridest with Hecat', and befriend 

Us thy vowed priests, till utmost end 

Of all thy dues be done, and none left out 

Ere the blabbing eastern scout, 

The nice Morn on the Indian steep. 

From her ca|j)ined loop-hole peep, 140 

And to the tell-tale Sun descry 

Our concealed solemnity. 

Come, knit hands, and beat the ground 

In a light fantastic round. 

The Measure 

Break off, break off ! I feel the different pace 
Of some chaste footing near about this ground. 



58 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Kun to your shrouds within these brakes and trees ; 
Our number may affright. Some virgin sure 
(For so I can distinguish by mine art) 
Benighted in these woods ! Now to my charms, 150 
And to my wily trains : I shall ere long- 
Be well stocked with as fair a herd as grazed 
About my mother Circe. Thus I hurl 
My dazzling spells into the sptfrtgy -air, 
Of power to cheat \he eye withluear illusion, 
And give it false ^^resentments, lest the place 
And my quaint habits breed astonishment, 
And put the damsel to suspicious flight ; 
Which must not be, for that's against my course. 
I, under fair pretence of friendly ends, 160 

And well-placed words of gl6zing courtesy, 
Baited Avith reasons not unplausible, 
Wind me into the easy-hearted man, 
And hug him into snares. When once her eye 
Hath met the virtue of this magic dust 
I shall appear some harmless villager, 
Whom thrift keeps up about his country gear. 
But here she comes ; I fairly step aside, 
And hearken, if I may her business hear. 169 

T/ie Lady e7iters ' 

Lady. This way the noise was, if mine ear be true. 
My best guide now. Methought it was the sound 
Of riot and ill-managed merriment. 
Such as the jocund flute or gamesome pipe 
Stirs up amoiig the loose unlettered hinds, 
When, for their teeming flocks aiul granges full, 
In wanton dance they praise the bounteous Pan, 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 59 

And thank the gods amiss. I should be loth 

To meet the rudeness and swilled insolence 

Of such late wassailers ; yet, oh ! where else 

Shall I inform my unacquainted feet 180 

In the blindltm^eT'of this tangled wood ? 

My brothers, when they saw me wearied out 

With this long way, resolving here to lodge 

Under the spreading favour of these pines, 

Stepped, as they said, to the next thicket-side 

To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit 

As the kind hospitable woods provide. ^ P^ 

They left me then when the grey -hooded Even, Vq ^^ 

Like a sad Votarist in palmer's weed, ^s^j^^-^ 

Rose from the hindmost wheels of Phoebus' wain. 190 

But where they are, and why they come not back, 

Is now the labour of my thoughts. 'Tis likeliest 

They had engaged their wandering steps too far ; 

And envious darkness, ere they could return, 

Had stole them from me. Else, thievish Night, ■ 

Why should- st thou, but for some felonious end. 

In thy dark lante rn thus clo se up the stars 

That Nature hung m heaven, and filled their lamps 

With everlasting oil, to give due light 

To the misled and lonely traveller ? 200 

This is the place, as well as I may guess. 

Whence even now the tumult of loud mirth 

Was rife, and perfect in my listening ear ; 

Yet nought but single darkness do I find. 

What might this be ? /^A thousand fantasies 

Begin to throng into my memory. 

Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, 

And airy tongues that syllable men's names 



60 SlJORTI'Jh' POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

. On sands and shores and desert, wildernesses. 
-' These thoughts may startle well, but not astound 210 
The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended 
By a strong- siding ehanipion, Conscience. 
0, welcome, pnre-eyed Faith, white-handed Mope, 
Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings, 

A nd thou unblemishe d form o f (Miastity ! 

I see ye visibly, and now believe 

That lie, tlu» Supreme Good, to whom all things ill 

Are but as slavish oftictu's of vengeance. 

Would send a glistering guardian, if need were. 

To keep my life and honour unassailed. ... 220 

Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud 

Turn forth her silver lining on the night ? 

I did not err : there does a sable cloud 

Turn forth her silver lining on the night, 

And casts a gleam over this tufted grove. 

I cannot hallo to my brothers, but 

Such noise as I can make to be heard farthest 

I'll venture ; for my new-enlivened spirits 

Prompt me, and they perhaps are not far off. 

Soncj 

Sweet echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen 2o0 
Within thy airy shell 

By slow Meander's margent green, 
And in the violet-embroidered vale 

Where the love-lorn nightingale 
Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well : 
Canst thoii not tell me of a gentle pair 

That likest thy Narcissus are ? 



SHORT Ell rOKMS OF JOHN MILTON 01 

0, if thou have 
Hid them in some flowery cave, 

Tell me but wliere, 240 

Sweet Queen of Parley, Daughter of the Sphere ! 
So may'st thou be translated to the skies, 
And give resounding grace to all Heaven's harmonies ! 

Comus. Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould 
Breathe such divine enchanting favisnmeiit ? 
Sure something holy lodges in that breast. 
And with these raptures moves the vocal air 
To testify his hidden residence. 
How sweetly did they float upon the wings 
Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night, 250 

At every fall smoothing the raven down 
Of darkness till it smiled ! I have oft heard 
My mother Circe with the Si^ns three, 
Amidst the flowery-kirtled IS aiaxles^'^^^^"'"^ 
(yulling their potent herbs and Ijaleful drugs. 
Who, as they sung, would take the prisoned soul, 
And lap it in Elysium : Scylla wept. 
And chid her barking waves into attention. 
And fell Charybdis murmured soft applause. 
Yet they in pleasing slumber lulled the sense,/i- 260 

And in sweet madness robbed it of itself ; i 

But such a sacred and home-felt delight. 

Such sober certainty of waking bliss,*^ 

I never heard till now. I'll speak to her. 

And she shall be my queen. — Hail, foreign wonder! 

Whom certain these rough shades did never breed, 

Unless the goddess that in rural shrine 

Dwell'st here with Pan or Sylvan, })y blest song 



62 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog 

To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood. 270 

Lady. Nay, gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praise 
That is addressed to unattendinsr ears. l 
Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift 
How to regain my severed company. 
Compelled me to awake the courteous Echo 
To give me answer from her mossy conchy 

Comus. What chance, good Lady, hath bereft you 

thus ? 
Lady. Dim darkness and this leavy labyrinth. 
Comus. Could that divide you from near-ushering 

gaides ? 
Lady. They left me weary on a grassy turf. 280 
Comus. By falsehood, or discourtesy, or why ? 
Lady. To seek i' the valley some cool friendly 

spring. 
Comus. And left yowi fair side all unguarded. 

Lady? 
Lady. They were but twain, and purposed quick 

return. 
Comus. Perhaps forestalling night prevented them. 
Lady. How easy my misfortune is to hit ! 
Comus. Imports their loss, beside the present need ? 
Lady. No less than if I should my brothers lose. 
Comus. Were they of manly prime, or youthful 

bloom ? 
Lady. As smooth as Hebe's their unrazored lips. 
Coynus. Two such I saw, what time the laboured 
ox 291 

In his loose traces from the furrow came. 
And the swinked hedger at his supper sat. 



X 



^r-.^f^.J^'^--^ 



SFIORTEll POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 63 

I saw them under a green mantling vine,. 

That crawls along the side of yon small hill, 

Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots ; 

Their port was more than human, as they stood. 

I took it for a faery vision 

Of some gay creatures of the element, 

That in the colours of the rainbow live, 3D0 

And play i' the plighted clouds. I was awe-strook. 

And, as I passed, I worshipped. If those you seek, 

It were a journey like the path to Heaven 

To help you find them. 

Lady. Gentle villager, 

AVhat readiest way would bring me to that place ? 

Comus. Due west it rises from this shrubby point. 

Lady. To find out that, good shepherd, I suppose, 
In such a scant allowance of star-light, 
Would overtask the best land-pilot's art. 
Without the sure guess of well-practised feet. 3io 

Comus. I know each lane, and every alley green. 
Dingle, or bushy dell, of this wild wood. 
And every bosky bourn from side to side, 
My daily walks and ancient neighbourhood ; 
And, if your stray attendance be yet lodged. 
Or shroud within these limits, I shall know 
Ere morrow wake, or the low-roo^ted lark . 
From her thatched pallet rouse. If otherwise, 
I can conduct you. Lady, to a low 
But loyal cottage, where you may be safe 320 

Till further quest. 

Lady. Shepherd, I take thy word, 

And trust thy honest-offered courtesy, 
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds, 



64 SIIOJiTKIi rOEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

With smoky rafters, tluiu in tapestry halls 

And courts of princes, where it first was named, 

And yet is most pretended. In a place 

Less warranted than this, or less secure, 

I cannot be, that 1 should fear to change it. 

Eye me, blest Providence, and square my trial 

To my proportioned strength ! Shepherd, lead on. ... 330 

17iC Two HUOTUKKS 

Eld. Bro. Unmuttie, ye faint stars ; and thou, fair 
moon. 
That wont'st to love the traveller's benison. 
Stoop thy i)ale visage through an amber cloud, 
And disinherit Chaos, that reigns here 
In double night of darkness and of shades ; 
Or, if your influence be quite dammed up 
With black usurping mists, some gentle taper, 
Though a rush-candle from the Avicker hole 
Of some clay habitation, visit us 

With thy long levelled rule of streaming liglit, MO 
And thou shalt be our star of Arcady, 
Or Tyrian Cynosure. 

Sec. Bro. Or, if our eyes 

Be barred that happiness, might we but hear 
The folded flocks, penned in their wattled cotes. 
Or sound of pastoral reed with oaten stops. 
Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock 
Count the night-watches to his feathery dames, 
'Twould be some solace yet, some little cheering, 
In this close dungeon of innumerous boughs. 
But, oh, that hapless virgin, our lost sister ! 350 

Where may she wander now, Avhither betake her 






HUORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 65 

From the chill dew, amongst rude burs and thistles ? 
Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now, 
Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm 
Leans her unpillowed head, fraught with sad fears. 
What if in wild amazement and affright, 
Or, while we speak, within the direful grasp 
Of savage hunger, or of savage heat ! 

Eld. Bro. Peace, brother : be not over-exquisite 
To cast the fashion of uncertain evils ; 360 

For, grant they be so, while they rest unknown, 
What need a man forestall his date of grief, 
And run to meet what he would most avoid ? 
Or, if they be but false alarms of fear. 
How bitter is such self-delusion ! 
I do not think my sister so to seek. 
Or so unprincipled in virtue's book. 
And the sweet peace that goodness bosoms ever, 
As that the single want of light and noise 
(Not being in danger, as I trust she is not) 370 

Could stir the constant mood of her calm thoughts. 
And put them into misbecoming ijlight. 
Virtue could see to do what Virtue would 
By her own radiant light, though sun and moon 
Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self 
Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude. 
Where, with her best nurse Contemplation, 
She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings. 
That, in the various bustle of resort, 
AVere all to-ruffted, and sometimes impaired. 380 

He that has light within his own clear breast 
May sit i' the centre,iand enjoy bright day : 
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts 



()») .s //(>/; v/;/,' i'0I':ms or joiix milton 

l>('niL;iil(Hl walks uiuh^r the mid-da.y sun; 
Hims(>ir is his own dungeon. 

iScc. liro. "Tis most true 

'Pliatr niusiuL;' Mc^litatiou niost> atTiH'ts 
'riic |)(Misive S(H'r(H'y of dissert, cell, 
Vav I'roni 1Ih> clietM-rul haunt oi' men and herds, 
And sils as safe as in a. senate-house; 
i^'or who would rob a. luMMuil. of his weeds, "«H) 

His I'tMv hooks, or Ins h(\uls, or maple dish, 
( >r do his i;r(>y hairs any violence? 
Ihd InMuly, like \\\c lair Iles])(M'ian tree 
Laden with hlooniing i^old, had need \\\c i;'nard 
0\' dragon-wati'h with uniMiehanted i\\t^ 
To save Inu* blossoms, and defend her fruit, 
l''rom llu^ rash hand of bold Ineontinenee. 
\'ou may as widl spri^ul out (he unsunned luMps 
Of mis(>r's Iriwsnre by an outlaw's dtui. 
And tidl me it. is sale, as bid me hope 400 

nam;(M- will wiidv on (Opportunity, 
And let a single ludph^ss maiden pass 
rninjuriHl in this wild surrounding waste. 
Of night or lomdiuess it reeks nu^ not ; 
I fear the dread events that dog them both. 
Lest s«une ill-greeting toueh attempt the person 
()f ouv unowned sister. 

.Kid. liro. I do not. brother, 

InfiM' as if 1 thought my sisttu-'s state 
Secure without, all iloubt or controversy ; 
VtM, whiM-e an equal poisi^ of hope and fear no 

l>oes arbitrate the eviMit, my nature is 
That 1 incline ti^ hope rather than fear, 
And gladly banish squint susj>icion. 



/^ii()ini<:it I'OKMS OF JOHN milton 07 

My sist(>r is not so defenceless left 

As y»)u iinai;iiu'; slio luis a liiddiMi strength, 

Wliich you rcnuMuhcr not. 

kScc. liro. What hidden strength, 

Unless the strength of Heaven, ii" you unwu that? 

AV(/. liro. 1 mean tliai. too, hut _V(M a hiihliMi strength. 
W'liieli, it Heaven gave it, may be ternu'd lier own. 
''I'is chastity, my brother, chastity : 4'JO 

Slie that has that is chid in comi)h'te steel. 
And, like a. (jnivered nymph with arrows keen, 
May tra.cc huge forests, and unliarboured lieaths, 
lnl'anu)us hills, and sandy perilous wilds; 
Whens through the sacred rays of chastity, 
"No sa.va.g(^ tierce, bandite, or mountaineer, 
Will dare to soil her virgin |)nrity. 
\'ea, tiiere where very desolation dwells, 
By grotJitiul caverns shagged with horrid shades. 
She may pass on with nnblenched majesty, 
r.e it not done in pride, or in presumption. 
Some say no evil thing that walks by night, 
In log or. tire, by lake or moorish I'eUj 
i)lue nfeagfe hag, or stubborn uidaid ghost, 
That breaks his magic chains at curfew time, 
No goblin or swart faery of the mine, 
IhdJi hurtful power o'er true virginity. 
Do yi^ believe nu^ yet, or shall 1 call 
Antiquity from the old schools of Greece 
To testify the arms of clnistity '.' 
lliMice had the huntress Dian her dread bow, 
Fair silver-shafted (pieen for ever chaste. 
Wherewith she ta.med the brinded lioness 
And spotted mountai*iT-pard, but set at nought 



430 



440 



68 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

The frivolous bolt of Cupid ; gods and men 

Feared her stern frown, and she was queen o' the woods. 

What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield 

That wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin, 

Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone, 

But rigid looks of chaste austerity, 450 

And noble grace that dashed brute violence 

With sudden adoration and blank awe ? 

So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity 

That, when a soul is found sincerely so, 

A thousand liveried angels lackey her, 

Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt, 

And in clear dream and solemn vision 

Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear; 

Till oft converse with heavenly habitants 

Begin to cast a beam on the outward shape, 460 

The unpolluted temple of the mind. 

And turns it by degrees to the soul's essence, 

Till all be made immortal. But, when lust. 

By unchaste looks, loose gestures, and foul talk, 

But most by lewd and lavish act of sin. 

Lets in defilement to the inward parts. 

The soul grows clotted by contagion, 

Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite lose 

The divine property of her first being. 

Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp 470 

Oft seen in charnel-vaults and sepulchres, 

Lingering and sitting by a new-made grave, 

As loth to leave the body that it loved, 

And linked itself by carnal sensualty 

To a degenerate and degraded state. 

Sec. Bro. How charming is divine Philosophy! 



SnORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 69 

Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, 

But musical as 'is Apollo's lute, 

And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets, 479 

Where no crude surfeit reigns. 

Eld. Bro. List ! list ! I hear 

Some far-off hallo break the silent air. 

Sec. Bro. Methought so too ; what should it be ? 

Eld. Bro. For certain, 

Either some one, like us, night-foundered here. 
Or else some neighbour woodman, or, at worst. 
Some roving robber calling to his fellows. 

Sec. Bro. Heaven keep my sister ! Again, again, 
and near ! 
Best draw, and stand upon our guard. 

Eld. Bro. I'll hallo. 

If he be friendly, he comes well : if not, 
Defence is a good cause, and Heaven be for us ! 489 

The Attendant Spirit, liahited like a sJiej'herd 

That hallo I should know. What are you ? Speak. 
Come not too near ; you fall on iron stakes else. 

Spir. What voice is that ? my young Lord ? speak 
again. 

Sec. Bro. O brother, 'tis my father's Shepherd, sure. 

Eld. Bro. Thyrsis! whose artful strains have oft 
delayed 
The huddling brook to hear his madrigal. 
And sweetened every musk-rose of the dale. 
How camest thou here, good swain ? Hath any ram 
Slipped from the fold, or young kid lost his dam. 
Or straggling wether the pent flock forsook ? 
How couldst thou find this dark sequestered nook? 500 



70 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Spir. my loved master's heir, and liis next joy, 
I came not here on such a trivial toy 
As a strayed ewe, or to pursue the stealth 
Of pilfering wolf ; not all the lieecy wealth 
That doth enrich these downs is worth a thought 
To this my errand, and the care it brought. 
But, oh ! my virgin Lady, where is she ? 
How chance she is not in your compam^ ? 

Eld. Bro. To tell thee sadly. Shepherd, without 
blame ' 
Or our neglect, we lost her as we came. 5io 

Spir. Ay me unhappy ! then my fears are true. 

Eld. Bw. What fears, good Thyrsis ? Prithee 
briefly shew. 

Spir. I'll tell ye. 'Tis not vain or fabulous 
(Though so esteemed by shallow ignorance) 
What the sage poets, taught by the heavenly Muse, 
Storied of old in high immortal verse 
Of dire Chimeras and enchanted isles. 
And rifted rocks whose entrance leads to Hell ; 
For such there be, but unbelief is blind. 

W^ithin the navel of this hideous wood, 520 

Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells, 
Of Bacchus and of Circe born, great Comus, 
Deep skilled in all his mother's witcheries, 
And here to every thirsty wanderer 
By sly enticement gives his baneful cup. 
With many murmurs mixed, whose pleasing poison 
The visage quite transforms of him that drinks. 
And the inglorious likeness of a beast 
Fixes instead, unmoulding reason's mintage 
Charactered in the face. This have I learnt 530 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 71 

Tending my flocks hard by i' the hilly (irofts 

That brow this bottom glade ; whence night by night 

He and his monstrous rout are heard to howl 

Like stabled w^olves, or tigers at their prey, 

Doing abhorred rites to Hecate 

In their obscured haunts of inmost bowers. 

Yet ha^ they many baits and ^STSufspells 

To invSgTe'and invite the unwary sense 

Of them that pass unweeting by the way. 

This evening late, by then the chewing flocks 540 

Had ta'en their supper on the savoury herb 

Of knot-grass dew-besprent, and were in fold, 

I sat me down to watch upon a bank 

With ivy canopied, and interwove 

With fl'auntmg honeysuckle, and began, 

Wrapt in a pleasing fit of melancholy. 

To meditate my rural minstrelsy. 

Till fancy^ad her fill. But ere a close 

The wonted roar was up amidst the woods. 

And filled the air with barbarous dissonance ; 550 

At which I ceased, and listened them awhile, 

Till an unusual stop of sudden silence 

Gave respite to the drowsy-flighted steeds 

That draw the litter of close-curtained Sleep. 

At last a soft and solemn-breathing sound 

Rose like a steam of rich distilled perfumes. 

And stole upon the air, that even Silence 

Was took ere she was ware, and wished she might 

Deny her nature, and be never more. 

Still to be so displaced. I was all ear, 560 

And took in strains that might create a soul 

Under the ribs of Death. But, oh ! ere long 



72 SHOBTELl POEMS OF JOHN MILTOK 

Too well I did perceive it was tlie voice 

Of my most honoured Lady, your dear sister. 

Amazed I stood, harrowed with grief and fear ; 

And '0 poor hapless nightingale,' thought I, 

' How sweet thou sing'st, how near the deadly snare ! ' 

Then down the lawns I ran with headlong haste, 

Through paths and turnings often trod by day. 

Till, guided by mine ear, I found the place 570 

Where that damned wizard, hid in sly disguise 

(For so by certain signs I knew), had met 

Already, ere my best speed could prevent. 

The aidless innocent lady, his wished prey ; 

Who gently asked if he had seen such two. 

Supposing him some neighbour villager. 

Longer I durst not stay, but soon I guessed 

Ye were the two she meant ; with that I sprung 

Into swift flight, till I had found you here ; 

But further know I not. 

Sec. Bro. night and shades, 580 

How are ye joined with hell in triple knot 
Against the unarmed weakness of one virgin, 
Alone and helpless ! Is this the confidence 
You gave me, brother ? 

Eld. Bro. Yes, and keep it still ; 

Lean on it safely ; not a period 
Shall be unsaid for me. Against the threats 
Of malice or of sorcery, or that power 
AVhich erring men call Chance, this I hold firm : 
Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt. 
Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled ; 590 

Yea, even that which Mischief meant most harm 
Shall in the happy trial prove most glory. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 73 

But evil on itself shall back recoil, 

And mix no more with goodness, when at last, 

Gathered like scum, and settled to itself. 

It shall be in eternal restless change 

Self-fed and self-consumed. If this fail. 

The pillared firmament is rottenness. 

And earth's base built on stubble. But come, let's on ! 

Against the opposing will and arm of Heaven 600 

May never this just sword be lifted up ; 

But, for that damned magician, let him be girt 

With all the griesly legions that troop 

Under the sooty flag of Acheron, 

Harpies and Hydras, or all the monstrous forms 

'Twixt Africa and Ind, I'll find him out. 

And force him to return his purchase back. 

Or drag him by the curls to a foul death, 

Cursed as his life. 

Spi7\ Alas ! good venturous youth, 

I love thy courage yet, and bold emprise ; 610 

But here thy sword can do thee little stead. 
Far other arms and other weapons must 
Be those that quell the might of hellish charms. 
He with his bare wand can unthread thy joints. 
And crumble all thy sinews. 

Eld. Bro. ^^Tiy? prithee. Shepherd, 

How durst thou then thyself approach so near 
As to make this relation ? 

Spir. ' Care and utmost shifts 

How to secure the Lady from surprisal 
Brought to my mind a certain shepherd lad. 
Of small regard to see to, yet well skilled 620 

In every virtuous plant and healing herb 



74 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

That spreads lier verdant leaf to the morning ray. 

He loved me well, and oft would beg me sing ; 

Which when I did, he on the tender grass 

Would sit, and hearken even to ecstasy, 

And in requital ope his leathern scrip, 

And show me simples of a thousand names, 

Telling their strange and vigorous faculties. 

Amongst the rest a small unsightly root. 

But of divine effect, he culled me out. 630 

The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it. 

But in another country, as he said. 

Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil : 

Unknown, and like esteemed, and the dull swain 

Treads on it daily with his clouted slioon ; 

And yet more med'cinal is it than that Moly 

That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave. 

He called it Haemony, and gave it me. 

And bade me keep it as of sovran use 

'Gainst all enchantments, mildew blast, or damp, 640 

Or ghastly Jfuries app^ritiory 

I pursed it up, but little reckoning made. 

Till now that this extremity compelled. 

But now I find it true ; for by this means 

I knew the foul enchanter, though disguised, 

Entered the very lime-twigs of his spells. 

And yet came off. If you have this about you 

(As I will give you when we go) you may 

Boldly assault the ii^bmanC^'^s liall ; 

Where if he be, with dauntless hardihood 650 

And brandished blade rush on him : break his glass, 

And shed the luscious liquor on the ground ; 

But seize his wand. Though he and his curst crew 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 15 

Fierce sign of battle make, and menace high, 
Or, like the sons of Vulcan, vomit smoke. 
Yet will they soon retire, if he but shrink. 

Eld. Bro. Thyrsis, lead on apace ; I'll follow thee ; 
And some good angel bear a shield before us ! 

The Scene changes to a stately palace, set out with all manner of deli- 
ciousness : soft music, tables spread with all dainties. Comus ap2>ears 
with his rabble, and the Lady set in an enchanted Chair : to whom he 
offers his glass ; which she puts by, and goes about to rise. ^ 

Comus. Nay, Lady, sit. If I but wave this wand, 
Your nerves are all chained up in alabaster, 660 

And you a statue, or as I5^^1ii5e was. 
Root-bound, that fled Apollo. 

Lady. Fool, do not boast. 

Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind 
With all thy charms, although this corporal rind 
Thou hast immanacled while Heaven sees good. 

Comus. Why are you vexed. Lady ? why do you 
frown ? 
Here dwell no frowns, nor anger ; from these gates 
Sorrow flies far. See, here be all the pleasures 
That fancy can beget on youthful thoughts, 
AVhen the fresh blood grows lively, and returns 670 
Brisk as the April buds in primrose season. 
And first behold this cordial julep here. 
That flames and dances in his crystal bounds. 
With spirits of balm and fragrant syrupy mixed. 
Not that NepeiMes, which the wife oT^^^one'''*'"'''"^ 
In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena 
Is of such power to stir up joy as this. 
To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst. 
Why should you be so cruel to yourself, 



76 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

And to those dainty limbs, which Nature lent 680 

For gentle usage and soft delicacy ? 

But you invert the covenants of her trust, 

And harshly deal, like an ill borrower, 

With that which you received on other terms, 

Scorning the unexempt condition 

By which all mortal frailty must subsist, 

Refreshment after toil, ease after pain, 

That have been tired all day without repast, 

And timely rest have wanted. But, fair virgin, 

This will restore all soon. 

Lady. 'Twill not, false traitor ! 690 

'Twill not restore the truth and honesty 
That thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies. 
Was this the cottage and the safe abode 
Thou told'st me of ? What grim aspects are these, 
These oughly-headed monsters ? Mercy guard me ! 
Hence with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver ! 
Hast thou betrayed my credulous innocence 
With vizored falsehood and base forgery ? 
And wouldst thou seek again to trap me here 
With liquorish baits, fit to ensnare a brute ? 700 

Were it a draught for Juno when she banquets, 
I would not taste thy treasonous offer. None 
But such as are good men can give good things ; 
And that which is not good is not delicious 
To a well-governed and wise appetite. 

Comus. foolishness of men ! that lend their ears 
To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur, 
And fetch their precepts^ from the Cynic tub. 
Praising the lean and fallow Abstinence ! 
Wherefore did Nature pour her bounties forth 710 



SHORTER FORMS OF JOHN MILTON 77 

With such a full and unwithdrawing hand, 

Covering the earth with odours, fruits, and flocks, 

Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable. 

But all to please and sate the curious taste ? 

And set to work millions of spinning worms. 

That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk, 

To deck her sons ; and, that no corner might 

Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins 

She hutched the all-worshipped ore and precious gems, 

To store her children with. If all the world 720 

Should, in a pet of temperance, feed on pulse. 

Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze. 

The All-giver would be unthanked, would be unpraised, 

Not half his riches known, and yet despised ; 

And we should serve him as a grudging master, 

As a penurious niggard of his wealth, 

And live like Nature's bastards, not her sons. 

Who would be quite surcharged with her own weight. 

And strangled with her waste fertility : 

The earth cumbered, and the winged air darked with 

plumes, 730 

The herds would over-multitude their lords ; 
The sea o'erfraught would swell, and the unsought 

diamonds 
Woujd so emblaze the forehead of the deep. 
And so bestud with stars, that they below 
Would grow inured to light, and come at last 
To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows. 
List, Lady ; be not coy, and be not cozened 
With that same vauritM name. Virginity. 
Beauty is Nature's coin ; must not be hoarded. 
But must be current ; and the good thereof 740 



78 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Consists in mutual and partaken bliss, 

Unsavoury in the enjoyment of itself. 

If you let slip time, like a neglected rose 

It withers on the stalk with languished head. 

Beauty is Nature's brag, and must be shown 

In courts, at feasts, and high solemnities. 

Where most may wonder at the workmanship. 

It is for homely features to keep home ; 

They had their name thence : coarse complexions 

And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply 750 

The sampler, and to tease the huswife's wool. 

What need a vermeil-tinctured lip for that. 

Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the morn ? 

There was another meaning in these gifts ; 

Think what, and be advised ; you are but young yet. 

Lady. I had not thought to have unlocked my lips 
In this unhallowed air, but that this juggler 
Would think to charm my judgment, as mine eyes, 
Obtruding false rules pranked in reason's garb. 
I hate when vice can bolt her arguments 760 

And virtue has no tongue to check her pride. 
Impostor ! do not charge most innocent Nature, 
As if she would her children should be riotous 
With her abundance. She, good cateress, 
Means her provision only to the good, 
That live according to her sober laws. 
And holy dictate of spare Temperance. 
If every just man that now pines with want 
Had but a moderate and beseeming share 
Of that which lewdly-pampered Luxury 770 

Now heaps upon some few with vast excess, 
Nature's full blessings would be well-dispensed 



SHORTER POEMB OF JOHN MILTON li) 

In unsuperfluous even proportion, 

And she no with encumbered with her store ; 

And then the Giver Would be better thanked, 

His praise due paid : for swinish gluttony 

Ne'er looks to Heaven amidst his gorgeous feast, 

But with besotted base ingratitude 

Crams, and blasphemes his Feeder. Shall I go on ? 

Or have I said enow ? To him that dares 780 

Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words 

Against the sun-clad power of chastity 

Fain would I something say ; — yet to what end ? 

Thou hast nor ear, nor soul, to apprehend 

The sublime notion and high mystery 

That must be uttered to unfold the sage 

And serious doctrine of Virginity ; 

And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know 

More happiness than this thy present lot. 

Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric, 790 

That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence; 

Thou art not fit to hear thyself convinced. 

Yet, should I try, the uncontrolled worth 

Of this pure cause would kindle my rapt spirits 

To such a flame of sacred vehemence 

That dumb things would be moved to sympathize, 

And the brute Earth would lend her nerves, and shake, 

Till all thy magic structures, reared so high. 

Were shattered into heaps o'er thy false head. 

Comus. She fables not. I feel that I do fear 800 
Her words set off by some superior power ; 
And, though not mortal, yet a cold shuddering dew 
Dips me all o'er, as when the wrath of Jove 
Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus 



80 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

To some of Saturn's crew. I must dissemble, 

And try her yet more strongly. — Come, no more! 

This is mere moral babble, and direct 

Against the canon laws of our foundation. 

I must not suffer this ; yet 'tis but the lees 

And settlings of a melancholy blood. 810 

But this will cure all straight ; one sip of this 

Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight 

Beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise, and taste . . . 

The BuoTiiEus rush in icith .sivonLs di\tic)i, jrrest his (/l<isfiout <>/hi.s hmid. 
and break it againut the ground : his rout make sign of rcfiNtance, 
but are all driven in. The Attendant Simkit comen in 

Spir. What ! have you let the false enchanter scape ? 
ye mistook ; ye should have snatched his wand. 
And bound him fast. Without his rod reversed, 
And backward mutters of dissevering power, 
We cannot free the Lady that sits here 
In stony fetters fixed and motionless. 
Yet stay : be not disturbed ; now I bethink me, 820 
Some other means I have which may be used. 
Which once of Meliboeus old I learnt, 
The soothest shepherd that e'er piped on plains. 

There is a gentle Nymph not far from hence, 
That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream: 
Sabrina is her name : a virgin pure ; 
Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine, 
That had the sceptre from his father Brute. 
She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit 
Of her enraged stepdame, Guendolen, 830 

Commended her fair innocence to the flood 
That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course. 
Tlie water-nymphs, that in the bottom played. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 81 

Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in, y 

Bearing her straight to aged IS'ereus' hall ; - 

Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank licad. 

And gave her to his daughters to imbathe 

In nectared lavers strewed with asphodil, 

And through the porch and inlet of each sense 

Dropt in ambrosial oils, till she revived, 840 

And underwent a quick immortal change. 

Made Goddess of the river. Still she retains 

Her maiden gentleness, and oft* at eve 

Visits the herds along the twilight meadows, / 

Helping all urchin blasts, and ill-luck signs / 

That the shrewd meddling elf delights to make. 

Which she with precious vialed liquors heals: 

For which the shepherds, at their festivals, 

Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays, 

And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream 8fj0 

Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils. 

And, as the old swain said, she can unlock 

The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell, 

If she be right invoked in warbled song ; 

For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift 

To aid a virgin, such as was herself. 

In hard-besetting need. This will I try. 

And add the power of some adjuring verse. 

Song 
Sabrina fair. 

Listen where thou art sitting 860 

Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, 

In twisfjed braids of lilies knitting 
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair; 

G 



82 SHOKTEli POEMS OF JOliy MILTON 

Listen for dear honour's sake, 
Goddess of the silver hike, 
Listen and save ! 

Listen, and appear to us. 
In name of great Oceanus, 
By the earth-shaking Neptune's mace, 
And Tethys' grave majestic pace ; 870 

By hoary Nereus' wrinkled look. 
And the Carpathian wizard's hook ; 
By scaly Triton's winding shell. 
And old soothsaying Glaucus' spell; 
By Leucothea's lovely hands, 
And her son that rules the strands ; 
By Thetis' tinsel-slippered feet, 
And the songs of Sirens sweet; 
By dead Parthenope's dear tomb. 
And fair Ligea's golden comb, 880 

Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks 
Sleeking her soft alluring locks ; 
By all the nymphs that nightly dance 
Upon thy streams with wily glance ; 
Rise, rise, and heave thy rosy head 
From thy coral-paven bed, 
And bridle in thy headlong wave, 
Till thou our summons answered have. 

Listen and save ! 

Sabrina rises, adended hy Wttfi'r-n>/»ij)hs, and ^iugs 

By the rushj'-fringed bank, a% 

AYhere grows the willow and the osier dank, 

My sliding chariot stays. 
Thick set with agate, and the azurn sheen 



SHOUT jai rOKMS OF JOHN MILTON 83 

Of turkis blue, and (MiK^rald green, 

That in the channel strays: 
Whilst from off the waters tleet 
Thus I set my printless feet 
O'er the cowslip's velvet head, 

That bends not as I tread. 
Gentle swain, at thy request 900 

I am here ! 

Sjm-. Goddess dear. 
We implore thy powerful hand 
To undo the charmed band 
Of true virgin here distressed 
Through the force and through the wile 
Of unblessed enchanter vile. 

Sabr. Shepherd, 'tis my office best 
To help ensnarM chastity. 

l^rightest Lady, look on me. 910 

Thus I sprinkle on thy breast 
Drops that from my fountain pure 
I have kept of precious cure ; 
Thrice upon thy finger's tip. 
Thrice upon thy rubied lip : 
Next this marbled venomed seat,' 
Smeared with gums of ghrarfeufeYieat, 
I touch with chaste palms moist and cold. 
Now the spell hath lost his hold ; 
And I must hast^re^norni^ig hour 920 

To wait in Ani^fipiite's^mver."' 

i 

Sahiuna dencendx, and tiik Lady rlHen out of her seat 

Spir. Virgin, daughter of Locrine, 
Sprung of old Anchises' line. 



SI .s//( )/,'/"/•;/; /'()/;.i/s ()/•' ,/()//.v MILTON 



INI ay thy brinnuiHl wavos for (Ins 
Thoir full 1 ribiiU^ n<>\ cr miss 
I'^roiu a t lunisatul jx't ty rills, 
'['hat linuMr ilow n [\\o siiowv hills: 
SuinnuM" tlrouth or siui;(\l air 
ISovor si'iu'i'h thy trcsst^s fair. 

'Thy iiu^ltiMi I'rystal iill with imul ; 

Ma\ thv hiliows roll aslu>rt^ 

Tho 'k)iM-yl aiul tlu> l;oKIou oro ; 

May thy lot'ty luwtl he itowiuhI 

With many a towor ai\il ((M-ract* rouiui. 

Ami hiM'o aiul tluMO thy hanks njuMi 

W ilh i;a\>vt's ol' myrrh ami cinnamon. 

('onu\ l.atl\ ; whilo lli\i\aMi lomls ns <;i\U'0. 
l,iM ns lly this cni'sod phu'i\ 

Lest tho sori'oror ns tMitii'O iMO 

With sonu* oth(M' nc^v ih>vii'(\ 
Not a wasto ov nooilloss smind 
Till wo Oi>mo to lu^liiM- L;i't>nml. 
1 shall In* yonr railht'nl ^iiiilo 
'rhron_i;h this i^loomy oovort \\iilo; 
AnJ not many rurloni;s tluMici' 
is yonr l''atluM''s rosiiliMU'O, 
WluMH> this nii;ht ari' nuM in stato 
JNlany a I'rioml to g"ratulat(^ 

His w isluHl prtvsiMU'O, ami Ix^siilo 950 

All tho swains that thon^ ahido 
\\'ith jiL^s and rnral ihuuH> nvsiu't. 
Wi^ shall I'atoh tluMn at tlunr spm-t. 
And i>nr smldon oomim;' tluM't* 
Will donhh* all tlunr mirth ami cIuhm'. 



siioirnch' I'Oh'Ms or john milton 85 

(!<)iii(', let, lis li;i„sl(^; iJic sl,;i,rs ^vow liif^li, 
Hut Ni^'lil, sits iiioiKircli y(;l, in l.lic mid sky. 

Tlif Sffiic clHtinifH, i>r(H(iilii({i l.mlldii^ 'I'lnin, iiiid the I'rvnitl niT h i'dhllr: 
then ciimc hi, ('(iiiiiln/ Ihi nnrH ; nfln- Hum the Athcndan'I' Hi-iiirr, ivilh 
the two HitoTiiiCKH mill I nil. Ladv 



SoiKJ 

Spiv. l»;M'k, slicplicids, ));icl< ! P'lioii^li yoiii- 
|)l:i,V 
'I'ill iic-xl, siiii-sliiiic holiday. 

Ilcrf. l)(^ witlioiil, diicli or nod, %() 

( )l licr 1 ri|)|)iii'^s to Ix- I rod 
()!' liMhlci- Iocs, and sucdi coni-l, j^Miiso 
As McM'cnry did lirsl, d('vis(( 
Willi the, niincin};' Dryjidcs 
On tli(! lawiiH and on tin? Uvah. 

Thin MiCDiiif Siiim /in'Nni/N fhrin/n Ihiir Fiilhvr mid Mother 

TMo])I(' Lord and l^ady bii^^id,, 
I liavc! bronj^ld, yr new dclij^ht. 
Here, bcliold ho goodly [^rown 
'riiicc lair biaiiclics of your own. 
lI(!av(Mi liaMi timely tried tlieir yoidli, «»70 

'I'lieir raitli, tlieir |)a,ti(!n(;(', jind their triilli, 
And sent th(uii liere thi-oii^li lia,rd assays 
With a, ci-own ol'deatldess praise;, 
'I'o triiimpli ill victorious daiicci 
()'(!i' sensiiaJ I'olly a.iid intem jxM-ancc,. 

Till- ilmiriH viiilril, llii' Sciitri' rpilin/iiixeH 

S))ir. 'W) the ocean now I II y, 
And those Iiappy climes that li(! 



86 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Where day never shuts his eye, 

Up in the broad fields of the sky. 

Ther^ I suck the liquid air, 980 

All amidst the gardens fair 

Of Hesperus, and his daughters three 

That sing about the golden tree. 

Along the crisped shades and bowers 

Bevels the spruce and jocund Spring; 

The Graces and the rosy-bosomed Hours 

Thither all their bounties bring. 

There eternal Summer dwells. 

And west winds with musky wing ^^ 

About the cedarn alleys fling 9^36^'^ 

Nard and cassia's balmy smells. 

Iris there with humid bow 

Waters the odorous banks, that blow 

Flowers of more mingled hue 

Than her purfled scarf can shew. 

And drenches with Elysian dew 

(List, mortals, if your ears be true) 

Beds of hyacinth and roses, 

Where young Adonis oft reposes, 

Waxing well of his dee}) wound, lOOO 

In slumber soft, amLim. the ground 

Sadly sits the Assyrian queen. 

But far above, in spangled sheen. 

Celestial Cupid, her famed son, advanced, 

Holds his dear Psyche, sweet entranced 

After her wandering labours long, 

Till free consent the gods among 

Make her his eternal bride. 

And from her fair unspotted side 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 87 

Two blissful twins are to be born, 1010 

Youth and Joy ; so Jove hath sworn. 

But now my task is smoothly done ; 
I can fly, or I can run 
Quickly to the green earth's end, 
Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend. 
And from thence can soar as soon 
To the corners of the moon. 
Mortals, that would follow me. 
Love Virtue 5 she alone is free. 
She can teach ye how to climb 1020 

Higher than the sphery chime ; 
Or, if Virtue feeble were. 
Heaven itself would stoop to her. 



LYeiBAS 

In this Monody the Author bewails a learned Friend, unfortunately drowned 
in his passage from Chester on the Irish Seas, 1637 ; and, by occasion, fore- 
tells the ruin of our corrupted Clergy, then in their height. 

Yet once more, ye laurels, and once more. 

Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere, 

I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, 

And with forced fingers rude 

Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. 

Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear 

Compels me to disturb your season due ; 

For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime, 

Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer. 



88 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Who would not sing for Lycidas ? he knew 10 

Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme. 
He must not float upon his watery bier 
Unwept, and welter to the parching wind, 
Without the meed of some melodious tear. 

Begin, then. Sisters of the sacred well 
That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring ; 
Begin, and somewhat loudly sweep the string. 
Hence with denial vain and coy excuse : 
So may some gentle Muse 

With lucky words favour my destined urn, 20 

And as he passes turn, 
And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud ! 

For we were nursed upon the self-same hill. 
Fed the same flock, by fountain, shade, and rill ; 
Together both, ere the high lawns appeared 
Under the opening eyelids of the Morn, 
We drove a-fleld, and both together heard 
What time the grey-fly winds her sultry horn, 
Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night, 
Oft till the star that rose at evening bright 30 

Toward heaven's descent had sloped his westering 

wheel. 
Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute ; 
Tempered to the oaten flute 

Eough Satyrs danced, and Fauns with cloven heel 
From the glad sound would not be absent long ; 
And old Damoetus loved to hear our song. 

But, oh ! the heavy change, now thou art gone, 
Now thou art gone and never must return ! 
Thee, Shepherd, thee the woods and desert caves, 
With wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown, 40 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 89 

And all their echoes, mourn. 

The willows, and the hazel copses green. 

Shall now no more be seen 

Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays. 

As killing as the canker to the rose, 

Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze, 

Or frost to flowers, that their gay wardrobe wear, 

When first the white-thorn blows ; 

Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd's ear. 

Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless 
deep 50 

Closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas ? 
For neither were ye playing on the steep 
Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie, 
Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high. 
Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream. 
Ay me ! I fondly dream 
'' Had ye been there," ... for what could that have 

done ? 
What could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore, 
The Muse herself, for her enchanting son. 
Whom universal nature did lament, 60 
When, by the rout that made the hideous roar, 
His gory visage down the stream was sent, 
Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian_sliai:e.2 

Alas ! what boots it with uncessant care 
To tend the homely, slighted, shepherd's trade, 
And strictly meditate the thankless Muse ? 
Were it not better done, as others use, 
To sport with Amaryllis in the shade. 
Or with the tangles of Nesera's hair ? 
Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise 70 



90 SHOBTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

(That last infirmity of noble mind) 

To scorn delights and live laborious days ; 

But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, 

And think to burst out into sudden blaze, 

Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears, 

And slits the thin-spun life. " But not the praise," 

Phoebus replied, and touched my trembling ears : 

" Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil, 

Nor in the glistering foil 

Set off to the world, nor in broad rumour lies, 80 

But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes 

And perfect witness of all-judging Jove ; 

As he pronounces lastly on each deed, 

Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed." 

fountain Arethuse, and thou honoured flood. 
Smooth-sliding Mincius, crowned with vocal reeds, 
That strain I heard was of a higher mood. 
But now my oat proceeds, 
And listens to the Herald of the Sea, 
That came in Neptune's plea. 90 

He asked the waves, and asked the felon winds. 
What hard mishap hath doomed this gentle swain ? 
And questioned every gust of rugged wings 
That blows from oft' each beaked promontory. 
They knew not of his story ; 
And sage Hippotades their answer brings, 
That not a blast was from his dungeon strayed : 
The air was calm, and on the level brine 
Sleek Panope with all her sisters played. 
It was that fatal and perfidious bark, lOO 

Built in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark. 
That sunk so low that sacred head of thine. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 91 

Next, Camus, reverend sire, went footing slow. 
His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge, 
Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge 
Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe. 
"Ah ! who hath reft," quoth he, "my dearest pledge ? " 
Last came, and last did go. 
The Pilot of the Galilean Lake ; 

Two massy keys he bore of metals twain iio 

(The golden opes, the iron shuts amain). 
He shook his mitred locks, and stern bespake : — 
"How Avell could I have spared for thee, young swain, 
Enow of such as, for their bellies' sake. 
Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold ! 
Of other care they little reckoning make 
Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast. 
And shove away the worthy bidden guest. 
Blind mouths ! that scarce themselves know how to 

hold . 
A sheep-hook, or have learnt aught else the least 120 
That to the faithful herdman's art belongs ! 
What recks it them ? What need they ? They are sped ; 
And, when they list, their lean and flashy songs 
Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw; 
The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed. 
But, swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw, 
Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread ; 
Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw 
Daily devours apace, and nothing said. 
But that two-handed engine at the door 130 

Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more." 

E/Cturn, Alpheus ; the dread voice is past 
That shrunk thy streams ; return, Sicilian Muse, 



y 



92 SIIOUTKH rOEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

And call tlio vales, and bid tlieni liitlier cast 

Their bells and tiowerets of a thousand lines. 

Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers nse 

Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks, 

On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks, 

Throw hither all your quaint enanudled eyes. 

That on the green tnrf suck the honeyed showers, 140 

And purple all the ground with vernal Howers. 

Hring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies, 

The tufted - row-toe, and pale jessamine, 

The white pink, and the pansy freaked with jet, 

The glowing violet, 

The musk-rose, and the well-attired woodbine, 

With eowslip.s wan that hang the pensive head. 

And every tlowt>r that sad end>roi(K'ry wears; 

\Vu\ ama ran thus all his beauty sheil. 

And datfadillies till their cups with tears, 150 

To strew the laureate hearse where Lyeid lies. 

For so, to interpose a little ease. 

Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise. 

Ay me I whilst thee the shores and sounding seas 

Wash far away, where'er thy bones are hurled ; 

Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides, 

Where thou perhaps under the whelming tide 

Visit'st the bottom of the nu>nstrous world; 

Or whether thon, to our moist vows denied, 

Sleep'st by the fable of Hellerus olil — ^ 100 

AVhere the great Vision of the guarded mount 
Looks toward Namaneos and Bayona's hold. 
Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth: 
And, ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth. 

Weep no more, woeful shepherds, weep no more, 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 93 

For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead, 

Sunk thou^yi }io be beneath the watery floor. 

So sinks tlie day-star in the ocean l)ed. 

And yet anon repairs his drooping head. 

And tricks his beams, and witli new-spangled ore 170 

Flames in the forehead of the morning sky : 

So Lycidas sunk low, y)ut mounted high, 

Through the dear might of Jlim that walked the waves, 

Where, other groves and other streams along. 

With nectar pun; his oozy locks he laves, • 

And hears the unexpressive nuptial song. 

In the blest kingdoms mc(!k of joy aiul love. 

There entertain him all the Saints above. 

In solemn troops, and sweet societies. 

That sing, and singing in their glory move, 180 

And wipe tlie tears for ever from his eyes. 

Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more; 

Henceforth thou art the Genius of the shore. 

In thy large recompense, and shalt be good 

To all that wander in that perilous flood. 

Thus sang the uncouth swain to the oaks and rills, 
While the still morn went out with sandals grey : 
He touched the tender stops of various quills. 
With eager thought warbling his Doric lay: 
And now the sun had stretched out all the hills, 190 
And now was dropt into the western bay. 
At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue : 
To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new. 



94 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 



WHEK THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO 

THE CITY 

Captain or Colonel, or Kniglit in Arms, 

Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize, 

If deed of honour did thee ever please, 

Guard them, and him within protect from harms. 

He can requite thee ; for he knows the charms 
That call fame on such gentle acts as these, 
And he can spread thy name o'er lands and seas. 
Whatever clime the sun's bright circle warms. 

Lift not thy spear against the Muses' bower : 
The great Emathian conqueror bid spare 
The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower 

Went to the ground ; and the repeated air 
Of sad Electra's poet had the power 
To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare. 



TO A VIETUOUS YOUNG LADY 



Lady, that in the prime of earliest youth 

Wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green, 
And with those few art eminently seen 
That labour up the hill of heavenly Truth, 

The better part with Mary and with Ruth 

Chosen thou hast ; and they that overween, 
And at thy growing virtues fret their spleen, 
No anger find in thee, but pity and ruth. 

Thy care is fixed, and zealously attends 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 95 

To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light, 
And hope that reaps not shame. Therefore be sure 
Thou, when the Bridegroom with his feastful friends 
Passes to bliss at the mid-hour of night, 
Hast gained thy entrance. Virgin wise and pure. 



TO THE LADY MARGAKET LEY 

Daughter to that good Earl, once President 
Of England's Council and her Treasury, 
Who lived in both unstained with gold or fee, 
And left them both, more in himself content, 

Till the sad breaking of that Parliament 
Broke him, as that dishonest victory 
At Chaeronea, fatal to liberty. 
Killed with report that old man eloquent, 

Though later born than to have known the days 
Wherein your father flourished, yet by you, 
Madam, methinks I see him living yet : 

So well your words his noble virtues praise 

That all both judge you to relate them true 
And to possess them, honoured Margaret. 



ON THE DETRACTION WHICH FOLLOWED 
UPON MY WRITING CERTAIN TREATISES 

A Book was writ of late called Tetracliordon, 

And woven close, both matter, form, and style ; 
The subject new : it walked the town a while, 
Numbering good intellects j now seldom poured on. 



Oi) SHOUT Ki{ roKMs of jony milton 

Crios IW stall-ivadiT, " Rless us! what a. word on 
A titlo-})ai;e is this!"; and somo in iih^ 
Stand spelling- false, -while one might walk to 
Mile-Knd Green. Why, is it harder, sirs, 
than (^'onloii, 
Colkitto. ov Mac(l())nu'L ov Galasp ? 

Those rugged names to our like nuniths grow sleek 
That wovdd have made Quintilian stare and gasp. 
Thy age, like ours, siml of Sir John Cheek, 
Hated noi learniug worse than toad or asp, 
When thou taught 'st Cambridge and King Edward 
Cireek. 



ON THE SAME 

I Din but prompt the age to quit their elogs 
By the known rules of ancient liberty. 
When straight a barbarous noise environs me 
Of owls and euekoos, asses, apes, and dogs; 

As when those hinds that were transformed to frogs 
Hailetl at l^atona's twin-born progeny. 
Which after held the Sun and McH>n in fee. 
But this is got by easting pearl to hogs, 

That bawl for freedom in their senseless mood. 

And still revolt when Truth would set them 

free. 
Tjieenee they mean when they cry Liberty ; 

For who loves that must first be wise and good: 
But from that mark how far they rove we see, 
Eor all this waste of wealth and loss of blood. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 97 



ON THE NEW FORCERS OF CONSCIENCE 
UNDER THE LONG PARLIAMENT 

J-Jecause you have thrown off your Prehite Lord, 
And with stiff vows renounced his Liturgy, 
To seize the widowed whore Plurality 
From them whose sin ye envied, not abhorred, 

Dare ye for this adjure the civil sword 

To force our consciences that Christ set free, 
And ride us with a Classic Hierarchy, 
Taught ye by mere A. S. and Rutherford ? 

Men whose life, learning, faith, and pure intent. 

Would have been held in high esteem with Paul 
Must now be named and printed heretics 

By shallow Edwards and Scotch What-d'ye-call ! 
But we do hope to lind out all your tricks, 
Your plots and packing, worse than those of Trent, 
That so the Parliament 

May with their wholesome and preventive shears 

Clip your phylacteries, though baulk your ears. 
And succour our just fears. 

When they shall read this clearly in your charge : 

New Preshjter is but old Priest writ large. 



TO MR. H. LAWES ON HIS AIRS 

Hakky, whose tuneful and well-measured song 
First taught our English music how to span 
Words with just note and accent, not to scan 
With Midas' ears, committing short and long, 

H 



98 SHORTEli POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Thy worth and skill exempts thee from the throng, 
With praise enough for Envy to look wan ; 
To after age thou shalt be writ the man 
That with smooth air couldst humour best our 
tongue. 

Thou honour'st Verse, and Verse must send her wing 
To honour thee, the priest of Plioebus' quire. 
That tunest their happiest lines in hymn or story. 

Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher 
Than his Casella, whom he wooed to sing. 
Met in the milder shades of Purgatory. 



ON THE EELIGIOUS MEMOEY OF MRS. 
CATHEEINE THOMSON, MY CHRISTIAN 
FRIEND, DECEASED DEC. 16, 1646 

When Faith and Love, which parted from thee never. 
Had ripened thy just soul to dwell with God, 
Meekly thou didst resign this earthy load 
Of death, called life, which us from life doth sever. 

Thy works, and alms, and all thy good endeavour. 
Stayed not behind, nor in the grave were trod ; 
But, as Faith pointed with her golden rod, 
Followed thee up to joy and bliss forever. 

Love led them on ; and Faith, who knew them best 
Thy handmaids, clad them o'er with purple beams 
And azure wrings, that up they flew so drest. 

And speak the truth of thee on glorious themes 

Before the Judge ; who thenceforth bid thee rest. 
And drink thy till of pure immortal streams. 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 99 



ON THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX, AT THE 
SIEGE OF COLCHESTER 

Fairfax, whose name in arms through Europe rings, 
Filling each mouth with envy or with praise. 
And all her jealous monarchs with amaze. 
And rumours loud that daunt remotest kings. 

Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings 

Victory home, though new rebellions raise 
Their Hydra heads, and the false North displays 
Her broken league to imp their serpent wings. 

yet a nobler task awaits thy hand 

(For what can war but endless war still breed ?) 
Till truth and right from violence be freed. 

And public faith cleared from the shameful brand 
Of public fraud. In vain doth Valour bleed, 
While Avarice and Rapine share the land. 



TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL, 
MAY, 1652, 

ON THE PROPOSALS OF CERTAIN MINISTERS AT THE 
COMMITTEE FOR PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL 

Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud 
Not of war only, but detractions rude. 
Guided by faith and matchless fortitude. 
To peace and truth thy glorious way hast ploughed, 

And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud 



100 SlIORTEli POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Hast reared God's trophies, and his work pursued, 
While Darwen stream, with bh^od of Srots im- 
brued, 
And Dunbar field, resounds thy praises loud, 

And Worcester's laureate wreath : yet much reuuiins 
To conquer still ; Peace hath her victories 
No less renowned than War : new foes arise. 

Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains. 
Help us to save free conscience from the paw 
Of hireling wolves, whose Gospel is their maw. 



TO SIR HEKRY VANE THE YOUNGER 

Vane, young in years, but in sage counsel old, 
Than whom a better senator ne'er held ^ 

The helm of Rome, when gowns, not arms, repelled 
The fierce Epirot and the African bold. 

Whether to settle peace, or to unfold 

The drift of hollow states hard to be spelled ; 
Then to advise how war may best, upheld, 
JMove by her two main nerves, iron and gold. 

In all her equipage; besides, to know 

Both spiritual jiower and civil, what iwch nunins, 
AVhat severs each, thou hast learned, which few 
have done. 

The bounds of either sword to thee we owe : 
Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leans 
In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son. 



SIJORTEIt POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 101 

ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT 

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaiiglitered saints, whose bones 
Lie s(;attered on tlie Alpine mountains cold ; 
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old. 
When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones, 

Forget not: in thy book record their groans 

Who were thy sheep, and in their an(;ient fold 
Slain by the bloody Piemontese, that rolled 
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans 

The vales redoubled to the hills, and they 

To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow 
O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway 

The triple Tyrant ; that from these may grow 
A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way. 
Early may fly the J3aby Ionian woe. 



ON HIS BLINDNESS 

When I consider how my light is spent 

Ere half my days in this dark world and wide. 
And that one talent which is death to hide 
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent 

To serve therewith my Maker, and present 
My true account, lest He r(?turning chide, 
" Doth God exact day-labour, light denied ? " 
1 fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent 

That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need 



102 SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 

Either man's work or his own gifts. AYho best 
Bear his mikl yoke, they serve him best. His state 
Is kingly : thousands at his bidding speed, 

And post o'er land and ocean without rest ; 
They also serve who only stand and wait." 



TO ME. LAWRENCE 

Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son, 

Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire, 
Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire 
Help waste a sullen day, what may be won 

From the hard season gaining ? Time will run 
On smoother, till Favonius reinspire 
The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh atfire 
The lily and rose, that neither sowed nor spun. 

What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice, 
Of Attic taste, with wine, whence we may rise 
To hear the lute well touched, or artful voice 

Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air ? 

He who of those delights can judge, and spare 
To interpose them oft, is not unwise. 



. TO CYRIACK SKINNER 

Cyriack, whose grandsire on the royal bench 
Of British Themis, with no mean applause, 



SHORTER POEMS OF JOHN MILTON 103 

Pronounced, and in his volumes taught, our laws, 
Which others at their bar so often wrench. 

To-day deep thoughts resolve with me to drench 
In mirth that after no repenting draws ; 
Let Euclid rest, and Archimedes pause, 
And what the Swede intend, and what the French. 

To measure life learn thou betimes, and know 

Toward solid good what leads the nearest way ; 
For other things mild Heaven a time ordains, 

And disapproves that care, though wise in show. 
That with superfluous burden loads the day, 
And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains. 



TO THE SAME 

Cykiack, this three years' day these eyes, though clear^ 
To outward view, of blemish or of spot. 
Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot ; 
Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear 

Of sun, or moon, or star, throughout the year. 
Or num, or woman. Yet I argue not 
Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot 
Of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer 

Right onward. What supports me, dost thou ask ? 
The conscience, friend, to have lost them overplied 
In Liberty's defence, my noble task. 

Of which all Europe rings from side to side. 

This thought might lead me through the world's 

vain mask 
Content, though blind, had I no better guide. 



104 SHORTER POEMS OF JOUN MILTON 



ON HIS DECEASED WIFE 

]\[ethought I saw my late espoused saint 

Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave, 
Whom Jove's great son to her glad husband gave. 
Rescued from Death by force, though pale and faint. 

Mine, as whom washed from spot of child-bed taint 
Purilication in the Old Law did save. 
And such as yet once more I trust to have 
Full sight of her in Heaven without restraint, 

Came vested all in white, pure as her mind. 

Her face was veiled ; yet to my fancied sight 
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined 

So clear as in no face with more delight. 

But, oh ! as to embrace me she inclined, 

I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night. 



CHRONOLOGICAL 



1608-1639. First Period : Education and Early Poems 

1608 Born at the Spread Eagle, Bread Street, Cheapside, 
London, December 9. 

Early education at home. 
1620-25 At St. Paul's School. Friendship with Diodati. 

Paraphrase on Psalms cxiv. and cxxxvi. 
1025 Enters Christ College, Cambridge. 
1626 On the Death of a Fair Infant dying of a Cough. 

Elegia Prima, Ad Carolum Diodatum. 

1628 At a Vacation Exercise in the College. 

1629 Degree of Bachelor of Arts. 

On the Morning of ChrisVs Nativity. 
Elegia Sexta, Ad Carolum Diodatum. 

1630 Upon the Circumcision. The Passion. On Time. 

At a Solemn Music. Song on May Morning. On 
Shakespeare. 

1631 On the University Carrier. Another on the Same. 

An Epitaph on the Marchioness of Winchester. On 
his having arrived at the Age of Twenty-three. 

1632 Leaves Cambridge. 
1632-38 At Horton, Buckinghamshire. 

1633 To the Nightingale. L ''Allegro. II Penseroso. 

1634 Arcades. Coimis. 

1637 Death of his mother. Lycidas. 

1638-39 Journey to the Continent. Italian Sonnets. 

Returns to St. Bride's, Fleet Street, London. 

Epitaphium Damonis. 

105 



106 CHRONOLOGICAL 



1640-1660. Second Period : Prose Works and Sonnets 

1640 At Aldersgute Street. Beeoiiies tutor to his nephews. 
Firet plan of Paradise Lost. 

1641 First of a series of ]>amphlets on social and political 

questions. Of li ('formation touching Church Dis- 
cipU)ie in England. 

1642 When the Assault icas intended to the City. 

1643 Marriage to JNIary Powell. She deserts him and he 

writes The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. 

1644 To a Virtuous Young Lady. To the Lady Margaret 

Ley. On Education. Judgment of JIartin Bucer. 
Areopagitica. Colasterion. Tetrachordo)i. 

1645 At Barbican. First edition of his poems. His wife 

returns. On the Detraction icJiich followed upon my 
■writing Certain l^reatises. On the Same. 

1646 Death of his father. On the Xew Forcers of Con- 

science. To Jlr. H. Lawes on his Airs. On the Re- 
ligious Memory of Mrs. Catherine Thomson. 

1647 At High Holborn, Lincoln's Inn Fields. 
1(548 On the Lord General Fairfa.r. 

1649 Tenure of Kings and Magistrates. 

Becomes Latin Secretary to Cromwell. 
Eikonoklastes. 

1651 Fro Fopulo Anglicano D(fensio. 

1652 At Petty France, Westminster. 

Loss of sight. To the Lord General Cromwell. 
To Sir Henry Vane the Younger. 
Death of his wife. 

1653 The Protectorate. 

1054 Defensio Secunda. 

1055 On the Late Massacre in Fiedmont. 
On his Blindness. To Mr. Lawrence. 
To Cyriack Skinner. To the Same. 

1056 Marriage to Catherine WotKlcock. 
1058 Death of Catherine Milton. 

On his Deceased Wife. 



CHRONOLOGICAL 107 

1659-60 Last pamphlets. 

1660 The Restoration. Milton in hiding and in custody. 

1660-1674. Third Period: The Great Epics 

1660 At High Holborn and Jewin Street. 

1663 Marriage to Elizabeth Minshul. 
Friendship of Thomas Ellwood. 

1664 At Artillery Walk, Bimh ill-fields. 

1665 Paradise Lost completed. 
1667 Paradise Lost published. 

1671 Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes published„ 
1674 Death. 



THE CAMBRIDGE MSS. 



The most interesting of the personal relics of Milton 
is the collection of Mss. now in possession of the 
Library of Trinity College, Cambridge. 

From the last years of Milton's student life at Cam- 
bridge he kept a note-book or folio sheets in which he 
kept first drafts of his English pieces or copies of them. 
These drafts, or emendations of them, and others of his 
Latin pieces were the basis of the first edition of his 
poems '"printed by his true copies." The original 
Mss. remained in Milton's possession until 1658. Tlie 
latest work is not in his own hand but in that of an 
amanuensis who assisted him during his blindness. 
These and other Mss. after his death in 1674 descended 
to his wife, but became dispersed about the time of 
her return to her native place in Cheshire. A portion 
of these Mss. came into the possession of Sir Henry 
Newton Puckering. 

" It is just possible," says Masson, " that he may 
have^ known Milton," as his uncle and aunt were 
neighbors of Milton in Aldersgate Street. He was 
educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and was a 
lover of books, xlt the age of eighty he returned to 
Trinity, had rooms assigned, and spent some time there. 
At his death in 1700 he left his library of 4000 
volumes to his old college. In this collection were 

109 



110 THE CAMBRIDGE MSS. 

many Mss. of Milton's poems. They were neglected 
for a long time until Charles Mason, a Fellow of the 
College, sorted and arranged them. In 1736 Thomas 
Clarke, another Fellow of the College, had them 
handsomely bound in morocco ; making a volume of 
fifty -four pages, folio size. On the inside of one of the 
covers was the following inscription : " Membra haec 
ernditissimi et poene divini Poetae, olim misere dis- 
jecta et passim sparsa, postea vero fortuito inventa, et 
in unum denuo coUecta a Carlo Mason, ejusdem Collegii 
socio, et inter Miscellanea reposita, deinceps ea qua 
decuit religione servari voluit Tliomas Clarke, nuper- 
rime hujusce Collegii, nunc vero Medii Tenipli Londini, 
Socius, 1736." ("These relics of a most learned and 
almost divine poet, formerly miserably separated and 
scattered, but afterwards by chance found, and lately 
arranged by Charles Mason, Fellow of the same College, 
and placed among the j\[iscellanies, are at last to be 
preserved with becoming piety by the desire of Thomas 
ClarkCj very recently of this College, now of the jVtiddle 
Temple, London, 1736.") This sacred volume is shown 
to visitors at Trinity College Library in a glass case. 
It cannot be removed from the case for examination 
except by permission of the jMaster and Fellows, and 
in presence of one of the Fellows. 



NOTES 

1624-1645 
Paraphrases on Psalms cx.iv. and cxxxvi. 

Little is known of Milton's remote genealogy beyond the 
fact that Mylton, or Milton, was a distinct surname in the four- 
teenth century. In the reign of Elizabeth there were various 
branches of this family in Oxfordshire and adjoining counties. 
It was from the Oxfordshire Miltons, of the village of Great 
Milton in the Hundred of Thame, eight miles from Oxford, 
that the poet derived his pedigree. His grandfather, Richard 
Milton, was a substantial yeoman of Stanton St. John, about 
five miles from Oxford, within the forests of Shotover, of which 
he was under-ranger. He was a firm Catholic, although it is 
said he sent his son John to Christ Chvnxh, Oxford. John 
had strong tendencies toward the Established Church, and, as 
Aubrey says, "because he was found reading a Bible in English 
in his room," he was disinherited by his father. He then went 
up to London, where by the assistance of friends he established 
himself in the business of a scrivener, attorney and law sta- 
tioner, whose chief business was the execution of deeds, leases, 
wills, etc. 

His shop was in Bread Street, Cheapside, and bore the sign 
of the Spread Eagle, which was either the family crest or the 
insignia of the Scriveners Company. Being a man of industry 
and integrity in the conduct of his affairs, he was soon in the 
way of substantial, even of a plentiful fortune. He became 
possessor of the Spread Eagle, and, according, to Aubrey, " of 
another house in that street, called the Rose, and other houses 
in other places." In 1600, when he was about thirty-seven 
years of age, he married Sarah Jeffrey, a woman who proved to 
be in every way worthy of her husband. Milton speaks of her 

111 



112 NOTES 

as " a most excellent mother, and particularly known for her 
charities in the neighborhood." They lived over the shop, and 
there six children were born to them, of whom only three lived 
beyond infancy, — Anne, John, and Christopher. The poet was 
the third child. According to the Register of the parish of 
Allhallows, "The 20th daye of December 1008 was baptized 
John, the Sonne of John Mylton Scrivenor." The young Milton 
was educated at home by a tutor, Thomas Young, a Scotchman 
and a Puritan, and was also a day scholar at St. Paul's. It is 
in this home, in this old Classical school, and in the sights and 
sounds of the London of Shakespeare and Jonson, that the 
young poet is being nurtured. 

It is an interesting fact that the Revival of Learning which 
came into England from Italy stimulated not only the love of 
art and literature but quickened the conscience as well, Col^t 
had placed over the master's desk in St. Paul's school the 
inscription: "Hear ye Him." Tyndale affirmed, "Ere many 
years I will cause that the boy that driveth the plow shall 
know the Scriptures." This was being realized in the century 
in which Milton was born, for it has been called a century of 
Bibles, there having been published between 1611 and 1711 no 
less than live hundred and twenty-live editions. Alluding to 
the influence of the Bible at this time Taine says: "Hence 
have sprung much of the English language, and half of the 
English manners ; it was these big books that had transformed 
Shakespeare's England. To understand this great change (from 
' Pagan to Christian Renaissance '), try to picture these yeomen, 
these shopkeepers, who in the evening placed this Bible on 
their table, and bareheaded with veneration heard or read one 
of its chapters, . . . not for amusement but to discover in it 
their doom of life and death.' . . . They understand it with 
the imagination and the heart." Breathing the atmosphere of 
a Puritan home where life was deep and rich, where music was 
heard daily, and wiiere the Bible was the chief textbook in 
morals, and Sylvester's translation of Du Bartas' Divine ]Veekes 
and Workes was the chief collection of poems, it is no wonder 
that his genius was kindled at the altar of Hebrew psalmody, 



NOTES 113 

and shone through the medium of English undefiled. " Pie 
was of a family in which courage, moral nobility, the love of 
art, were present to whisper the most beautiful and eloquent 
words about his cradle." It may be, as Johnson said, that 
these paraphrases raise no great expectations, and yet they 
form no inconsiderable evidence that a " mighty-mouth'd in- 
ventor of harmonies" was being trained in the humble home 
over the shop in Bread Street. 

Lowell has said that in no other English author is the man so 
large a part of his work. The earliest revelation of this most 
interesting of the sons of the Muses is to be found in these 
paraphrases. Here is the first gleam of the poet's mind shining 
through his art. They are probably relics from many early 
performances at home and at St. Paul's. The fact that Milton 
included them in the first edition of his poems is sufficient 
reason for giving them here. 

No study is more interesting or profitable than that which 
reveals the forces of heredity and early environment which have 
contributed to the forming of the mind and the fashioning of 
the art of those who have made our literature fresh and strong. 
Especially rewarding is such study in the life and work of 
Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton, and those who 
have given such lustre to the literature of this century, — Burns, 
Carlyle, and Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Tennyson. 
Such study of the great writers would relieve much of the 
tedium in the reading at home, in the school, and in the uni- 
versity, because it would reveal the great truth, "That he who 
would not be frustrate of his hope to write well hereafter in laud- 
able things ought himself to be a true poem, that is, a composi- 
tion and pattern of the best and honorablest things." — Miltox. 

" The child is father of the man." — Wordsworth. 

' ' Take warning ! he that will not sing 
While yon sun prospers in the blue, 
Shall sing for want, ere leaves are new. 
Caught in the frozen palms of Spring." 

Tennyson. 



114 NOTES 

"These first years are the incest impressionable (nothing tliat 
happens after we are twelve matters very nuu'h): they are also the 
most vivid years when we look baek, until at the end what lies 
between bends like a hoop, and the extremes meet." — Barrie. 

Perhaps the chief interest which these paraphrases have for 
us is that they reveal how carefully Milton had read Sylvester 
and the older poets. "Apart from the imitative faculty, these 
paraphrases," says Masson, "lia\e real poetic merit; they are 
clear, finely -worded, and harmonious." 

Psalm cxiv. 

1. Terah's faithful son. Cf. Gen. xi. 24-27. 

3. Pharian. Egyptian : from Pharos, the islantl in the bay 
of Alexandria. 

8. froth-becurled. It will be w^ell to note carefully the 
Hoineric double words in Milton's verse, as they constitute a 
singularly beautiful and effective element. Cf. H. Van Dyke, 
The Poetry of Milton (Milton and Tennyson). 

The rhymes in 1) and 10, 17 and 18 Masson says are among 
Sylvester's stereotyped rhymes, wiiile lines 18 and l-k "look as 
if Sylvester had written them." Cf. Walton's Compleat Angler, 
Chap. I., for interesting allusions to Sylvester's translation of 
Du Bartas. 

Psalm cxxxvi. 

10. Who. Tlie initial pronoun here and in the four follow- 
ing stanzas was "That" in first edition in 1()45. (M.) 

45, 4(). ruddy waves ... of the Erythraean main. Both 
phrases are from Sylvester : 

" Where th' Erythraean ruddy billows roar." (M.) 

Erythraean, Gr. for red. 
49. walls of glass. From Sylvester. 
65, Q6. Seon . . . Ammorean. 

" Sihon King of the Amorites." 

— Authorised and Revised Versions. 



NOTES 115 

69. Og. Cf. Numbers xxi. 33. 
89. warble forth. Cf. Sylvester : 

" Father, grant I sweetly warble forth," etc. (M.) 

1626-1673. 
On the Death of a Fair Infant. 

Aubrey says, " Milton was a poet at eleven," and Milton him- 
self writes that under the guidance of his tutor, Thomas Young, 
he "penetrated into the recesses of the Muses, saw the sacred 
and green places on Parnassus, and drank the Pierian cups." 
In 1625 he entered Cambridge, but before that time he had 
studied Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French and Italian. His know- 
ledge of Italian was due to his friendship with Charles Diodati, 
son of an Italian father and English mother, who was his school- 
mate at St. Paul's. Diodati entered Oxford shortly before Milton 
entered Cambridge. At Cambridge Milton continued hard at 
work, " tied night and day to his books" in studious and select 
reading. He had no great admiration for the University which 
acted tlie part of " Decency and Custom starving Truth, and 
blind Authority beating with his staff the child that might have 
led him." Because of a quarrel with his tutor he was sent to 
London for a time. Writing to his friend Diodati of this expe- 
rience he says: "If this be exile gladly do I enjoy my state 
of banishment." It was during this visit that his first English 
poem was written, on the death of his niece who died during the 
Plague in London. In this poem we find the wholesome beauty 
of the Greek, and the nobly reverent earnestness of the Hebrew, 
revealed in the verse of Spenser, " whose poems in these English 
ones are as rarely imitated as sweetly excelled." 'I'aine says : 
" Milton was not born for the drama, but for the ode." In tliis 
and the following poems "the broad river of lyric poetry 
streanis from him, impetuous, with even flow, splendid as a 
cloth of gold." 

In a pamphlet published in 1642, where Milton defends his 
Cambridge career against the imputations of those who had 
insinuated that it was " inordinate and violent," we have some 



116 NOTES 

very interesting biographical material. He says that his early 
and favorite authors were the elegiac poets, but that on finding 
they were not always chaste he turned to the "two famous 
renowners of Beatrice and Laura (Dante and Petrarch), who 
never write but honour of them to whom they devote their 
verse." Not long after, he was " confirmed in the opinion, that 
he who would not be frustrate of his hope to write well here- 
after in laudable things, ought himself to be a true poem. . . , 
Next, for hear me out now, readers, that I may tell ye whither 
my younger feet wandered, I betook me among those lofty 
fables and romances which recount in solemn cantos the deeds 
of knighthood founded by our victorious kings. ... I read in 
the oath of every knight, that he should defend to the expense of 
his best blood, or of his life, if it so befel him, the honour and 
chastity of virgin or matron. From whence even then I learned 
what a noble virtue chastity ever must be." The divine volumes 
of Plato taught him that " Love begins and ends in the soul, and 
produces those happy twins of her divine generation — Know- 
ledge and Virtue." It is to reveal this divine Love, Knowledge 
and Virtue that the college poems were written. 

Cf. Sonnet, On his having arrivexl at the age of Twenty- 
three^ p. 33. 

Milton never swerved from this lofty ideal of what a poet 
should be. His instinct for knowledge and his instinct for con- 
duct and beauty kept him true. Believing that truth is beauty, 
beauty truth, he felt that it was enough, and so 

'' Set his eye upon the goal, 
Not on the prize." 

"The nearest poet to Milton in this respect," wrote Masson, 
in 1851, "has undoubtedly been Wordsworth." We are now 
adding to the followers of Milton in this respect another great 
name, and are associating Wordsworth and Tennyson as he did 
Milton and Wordsworth. 

' ' Perhaps there are few clearer signs of a strong character than 
the wisdom to perceive, and the determination to follow, that 
course by which the individual may best reach the ideal that he 



NOTES 117 

is intended to reach. Wordsworth is another great example of 
this ; he had the strength to give up a career and to live on a 
pittance in solitude that he might brood over and bring to per- 
fect expression the thoughts which have made him immortal." 
Robertson Nicoll, Beview of Tennyson's Memoir. 

"Poetic numbers came 
Spontaneously to clothe in priestly robe 
A renovated spirit singled out, 
Such hope was mine, for holy services." 

Wordsworth, Prelude, i. 51-54. 

"Ah ! need I say, dear friend ! that to the brim 
My heart was full ; I made no vows, but vows 
Were then made for me ; bond unknown to me 
Was given, that I should be, else sinning greatly, 
A dedicated spirit." 

Prelude, iv. 333-837. 

" I agree with Wordsworth that art is selection. The higher 
moral imagination enslaved to sense is like an eagle caught by 
the feet in a snare baited with carrion, so that it cannot use its 
wings to soar." — Tennysox (Memoir). 

Cf. Tennysox, The Poet, The Poet's Mind, The Poet's Song, 
Poets and Critics. 

As one who has some conception of the fundamental laws of 
music will be all the more likely to enjoy the work of great 
composers, so one who knows some of the principles of English 
verse will be more likely to enjoy the marshalling of melodious 
words as revealed in Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, 
Wordsworth and Tennyson. While a consideration of the 
means should never be allow^ed to obscure the great end of the 
study of poetry — enjoyment, it may be wisely allowed as an 
important adjunct. 

A very simple method of indicating the grouping of syllables 
in the verse is to let x stand for the unaccented, and a for the 
accented syllables, A verse like that of this poem is composed 



118 NOTES 

of five groups of xa syllables. The stanza is modified Spenserian 
— six 5 xa verses and an Alexandrine, G xa. The rhyme-scheme 
\sab,ah,bcc. The normal Spenserian stanza is eight 5xa 
verses and an Alexandrine. With this key it will require but 
little effort to master the verse of this " Godgif ted organ-voice 
of England. ' ' 

A study of the verse of a few poems, together with careful 
oral reading, will do much toward creating a quick perception 
by eye and ear. 

1. fairest flower, etc. Cf. Shakespeare, Passionate Pil- 
grim, X. : 

" Sweet rose, fair flower, untimely plucked, soon vaded. 
Plucked in the bud, and vaded in the spring ! 
Bright orient pearl, alack, too timely vaded ! 
Fair creature, killed too soon by death's sharp sting." 

" Milton's taste had now outgrown Sylvester," says Masson. 

5. amorous on. Cf. Jluch Ado, ii. 1. "Amorous on Hero." 

6. envermeil. To make red as with vermilion. Cf. Comus, 
752. 

t), 7. thought to kiss, etc. " He thought to kiss him, and 
hath kill'd him so." Venus and Adonis, 1110. 

8-10. grim Aquilo, etc. Boreas (Aquilo) carried off Oreith- 
yia, daughter of Erechtheus the Athenian king. 

13. eld. Old age. 

15. icy-pearldd. Lowell says, " Milton loved phrases of 
towering port, in Avhich every member dilated stands like 
Teneriffe or Atlas." 

23-27. For so Apollo, etc. Ilyacinthus of Sparta was acci- 
dentally killed by Apollo, and from his blood grew the flower 
that bears his name. 

30. Resolve me. Inform me. "Resolve me whether you 
will or no," Pichard III. iv. 2. 

39. that high first-moving sphere. The primnm mobile or 
outermost sphere in the Ptolemaic cosmogony. Cf. Paradise 
Lost, iii. 481-483. 



NOTES 119 

" They pass the planets seven, and pass the fixed, 
And that crystalline sphere whose balrince weighs 
The trepidation talked, and that^rs^ moved.'''' 

43-40. Wert thou, etc. An allusion to the war of the Titans 
against Jove, 

47. Earth's sons. The Titans. 

50. just Maid. Astrsea, daughter of Zeus and Themis, 
lived on earth in the golden age, hut forsook it at last for her 
home among the stars. 

53. Mercy. In the original this line is two syllables short, so 
this word was inserted at the suggestion of Mr. John Heskin, 
Christ Church, Oxford. (M.) Cf. Ode on the Nativity, 141-148. 

55. heavenly brood. The personified virtues. (K.) 

58. weed. Apparel. Cf. V Allegro, 120. 

59. prefixed. Ordained. 

68. pestilence. The Plague. 

" When, first, arose the image in my breast 
Of England's suffering by that scourge, the Pest." 

Elegy iii. 

1628-1673 
At a Vacation Exercise in the College 

Milton was not long absent from the University. On his 
return another tutor was assigned him, and "pervaded with 
pleasure " he continued his work. 

This fragment was a part of his Prolusiones Oratoriae 
(Rhetorical Essays) in Latin, which were first published in 
1674, and was itself first printed in the edition of 1673. The 
essays were seven in number and were upon scholastic and 
philosophical subjects, .sucli as, Whether Day or Night is More 
Excellent, Of the Music of the Spheres, etc. The sixth, in 
whicli this fragment in English is found, was a speech delivered 
by Milton In the hall of Christ's College, Cambridge, on the 
occasion of a periodical revel after the close of the Easter term 
on July 4th. The translation of the Latin title is : '■'hi the 
Summer Vacation of the College, hut in the presence, as iisual. 



120 NOTES 

of a concourse of nearly the irhole youth of the University, an 
Oration to this effect: That occasional sportive exercises are 
not inconsistent with philosophical studies.'''' Milton had been 
elected Master or Father of the revel. It was the custom of 
this Father to make a speech full of humor and personalities. 
He called those in the audience his sons, and gave them such 
suggestive names as Beef Pork and Mutton ; Head, Neck and 
Breast; Sack, Rhenish and Sherris. But Milton broke this 
custom. He divided his speech into three parts, first a serio- 
comic discourse on the theme '-'■that sportive exercises on occa- 
sion are not inconsistent with the studies of Philosophy''^ ; 
secondly, the harangue in which he assumes the character of 
Father ; and thirdly, the conclusion in English prose and verse. 
In the first part he thanks them for the honor they have con- 
ferred upon him ; in the second he assigns names to his sons, 
but they are names taken from Aristotle's Predicaments, heads 
und€r which all things thinkable must fall. Ens or Being was 
father to Substance, Quality, Quantity, Relation, etc. Thus 
we see how distinctly autobiographical this poem with its Latin 
introductions is. Here we have those inward springs of his 
character revealed : the love of sportive exercises on the one 
hand, and the joy of thoughtfulness on the other. These 
unfolded in all their beauty will give us fJ Allegro and H 
Penseroso. 

Rev. F. D. Maurice says: "It is only a boyish effort, with 
much of boyish redundancy in style and thought ; but I know 
few more striking proofs that the boy is father of the man." 

It is worth noting here that in using the English Milton 
defied a law of the University which required that only Latin 
should be used on such occasions. 

1-10. Hail, Native Language, etc. Emerson says : " He pre- 
ferred his own English, so manlike he was, to the Latin, which 
contained all the treasures of his memory. ' My mother bore 
me,' he said, ' a speaker of what God made mine own, and not 
a translator.' He told the Parliament that, 'the imprimaturs 
of Lambert House had been writ in Latin ; for that our English, 
the language of men ever famous and foremost in the achieve- 



NOTES 121 

ments of liberty, will not easily find servile letters enow to spell 
such a dictatory presumption.' " 

12. thither. In the Latin part of the exercise. 

20. our late fantastics. An allusion to the Poetical Euphu- 
ists who followed John Lyly. 

" He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the 
staple of his argument. I abhor such fanatical phantasms, such 
insociable and point-devise companions." — Loves Labours Lost, 
V. 1. 

"Such antic lisping, affecting fantasticoes, these new tuners 
of accents." — Borneo and Juliet, ii. 4. 

" Easy was the task : 
A thousand handicraftsmen wore the mask 
Of Poesy." — Keats, Sleep and Poetry. 

29-46. Yet I had rather, etc. This very noble passage, in 
form and content, suggests Paradise Lost. In Milton's cos- 
mogony (Ptolemaic) the earth was surrounded by ten spheres 
representing the orbits of seven Planets: Moon, Mercury, 
Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn ; the orbit of fixed 
stars ; the crystalline sphere ; and the primnm mobile, — the 
outer rim or shell which separated the universe from empty 
space. Heaven lies outside of these spheres, above the " wheel- 
ing poles." After looking into this Homeric Pantheon, he 
returns through the "watchful fire," or fixed stars, and the 
spheres of the seven planets to the "misty regions" of our 
atmosphere, to sea and earth. Cf. Tennyson, Li Memoriam, 
Lxxvi. : 

" Take wings of fancy, and ascend. 
And in a moment set thy face 
Where all the starry heavens of space 
Are sharpen' d to a needle's end." 

31. coffers. Chests. 

42. piled thunder. Thunder clouds. 

47-52. And last of kings, etc. An allusion to Odyssey, viii., 
where King Alcinoiis entertains Ulysses at a feast at which the 
blind bard Demodocus sings the story of the Trojan war : 



122 NOTES 

" So sang renoimed DoiiKMli^nis ; the strain 
RIoltod to tears lUysses, from whos(> luls 
They ch'opped and wet his eheeks. As when a wife 
Weeps her beloved Imsband, slain before 
His town and people." 

62. In willing chains. Of. Sylvester, "The willing ehains of 
my captivity." (M.) 

5t). keep in compass. Keep to the assigned part. 

60. Good luck, ete. Masson says: ''The reader nnist dis- 
tinctly fancy Milton in person turning at this point to some 
book of a student." 

()G. walk invisible. According to Aristotle mortals knew 
not substance or existence, only phenomena. 

74-88. Shall subject be to many an Accident. A play upon 
the theory of Aristotle that Ens, or Being, was divided into Ens 
per se, or Substance, and Ens per aecidcns, or Acciilent. Acci- 
dent is thus the condition which reveals Being as phenomenon. 
The idea is that Being, or Substance, cannot be revealed without 
the aid of his brothers. Quantity, Quality, etc., and that they 
are useless without him. 

91-100. Rivers arise. The name of the youth who took the 
part of Kelation is thus associated with the rivers of England. 
Masson tells us that until 1869 it was not known that a youth 
of this name took part, and hence the passage disturbed the 
critics. Tweed, the river dividing England from Scotland ; 
Ouse and Don, Yorkshire rivers. Drayton in his Pohjolbion 
alludes to the " thirty streams" of Trent. Severn in Surry, of. 
Comus, 824, note. Avon, in Bristol ; Lea, near London ; Dee, 
near Chester ; Humber, in north of England. 

Milton's fondness for the pun is obvious in all his works. 
Perhaps the best illustration of it is in Paradise Lost, vi. 010 
fol. Alluding to their victory, due to the invention of guns and 
gunpowder, Satan says : 

" To entertain them fair with open front 
And breast (what could we more ?) propounded terms 
Of composition,'''' etc. 



NOTES 12:5 

Again : 

" The terms we sent were terms of weight 
Of hard contents und full of force unfed home 
Such as we might perceive amused them all 
And stumbled many," etc. 

Cf. Faerie Queene, IV. xi. 20 : 

" And after him the famous rivers came, 
Which doe the earth enrich and butitie." 

95. Mole that runneth underneath. Cf. Faerie Queene, IV. 
xi. 32 : 

"And mole that like a nousling mole doth make 
His way still underground." 

" Camden tells us of a river in Surrey, it is called the Mole, 
that after it has run several miles, being opposed by hills, finds 
or makes itself a way underground, and breaks out again so far 
off, that the inhabitants thereof boast, as the Spaniards do of 
their river Anus,. that they, feed divers flocks of sheep upon a 
bridge." — Walton, Compleat Angler, Chap. I. 



1629-1645 
On the Morning of Christ's Nativity 

Milton sent this poem with a letter to his friend Diodati. '" It 
is a gift," he says, " I have presented to the natal day of Christ. 
At daybreak of that very morning it was conceived." 

In Latin, Elegy vi.. To Charles Diodati, we find the fol- 
lowing : 

" Wouldst thou (perhaps 'tis hardly worth thine ear), 
Wouldst thou be told my occupation here ? 
The promised King of peace employs my pen, 
The eternal covenant made for guilty men, 
The new-born Deity witli infant cries 
Filling the sordid hovel, where he lies ; 



124 NOTES 

Tho Iiyinninj; Angels, and llu> licrald star, 
That 1(m1 till' Wise who souulit liiiii from alar, 
And idols on tlii-ir own uidiallowiMl slioro 
Daslu'd, al his birlh, to hv rt'vcrcd no more.'' 

That Mihon was early a, dedicated spirit, si't. apart for holy 
services, is ri'vi'aled in this pocMU. Masson in his deli,ij;htful 
essay Mil((>ii\s YoKth says: ''As nature had en(h>\ved him in 
no ordinary de,t;ree with that most excinisite of her gifts, the ear 
and tlu> i)assion lor melody, he had studied nuisic as an art, and 
IkuI tau,<;ht. himselt' not only to sinti; in the soi'iety of others, but 
also to touch the keys for his solitary i>leasur(\" 

In the uiiui;liu,i;' of Hebraism and Ih'lleuism with riirislianily 

and the emphasis ])ut, upon the blight o\' the Fall aM revealed in 

Nature as widl as in INIau, we havi> the elements of Paradise 

Jjost : 

" All my nuud was s(M. 

Serious to learn and know, and tluMice to do, 

What, mi'j.ht he public i;'ood ; myself 1 thoui;ht 

Horn to thai end, born to i)romote all truth. 

All rii;htt'ous thinii's." 

Paradisr Jfr(jaiu('(l i. 202-200. 

" In spito of his classical culture and his Kenaissance sense of 
boanty, Milton saw as the i)rime fact of the WH>rld, Diabolus at 
odds with Imnianuel." — Dowdkn. 

Tho influence^ of Spenser and Shakespeare may be seen in the 
]H)ems of this i>eriod of Milton's woi'k, but it is the influence of 
teacluM-s, not masters. The one greai gift — a vital soul, "cer- 
tain vital marks" — is everywhere present in this ])oem, al- 
though at the same time there is excess of ornament and lack of 
artistic proportion characteristic of youth. 

Mr. Saintsbury says : '' Nowhere even in Milton does the mas- 
tery of harmonies ap])ear better than in the exiiuisile rhythmical 
arrangement of the piec(\ in tlu> almost unearthly beauty oi the 
exordium, and in the famous stanzas bi>giiuiiug, 'The oracles 
are dumb.' It nmst be remendiered that at this lime the Eng- 
lish lyric wai^ in a very rudimentary and ill-organized condition." 



NOTES 125 

Rev. F. 1). Mauiiii' cites this pocnii as au illustration of 
Milton's habit of niakiiig "all the stories of Heathen Mythology 
unfold and illustrate the truth ; which we are apt to usc^ only for 
the exposure and confutation of their absurdity. I think Spenser 
and Milton have done more both to counteract the mischief of 
paj^anism and to vindicate the use of the treasures which it has 
be(jueathed to us than all the Apologists." 

Mr. Richard Garnett alluding to the last stanza says: "By 
an ex(iuisite turn the poet sinks back into his original key, and 
finally harmonizes liis strain by the divine repose of a concluding 
picture worthy of Correggio." 

1. This the happy morn, etc. : 

" That happy morn 
When angels spake to men aloud, 
And Thou and peace to earth were born." 

Tennyson. 
5. holy sages. Rroi)hets. 
14. darksome house. Cf. II Petiseroso, 9. 
28. wizards. Wise men. Cf. Faerie Qiieene, I. iv. 12 : 

" The antique wizards well invented 
That Venus of the foamy sea was bred." 

24. Oh ! run, etc. Cf. Drummond of Ilavvthorndeirs FUnoers 
of 8 ion : 

" Run, Shepherds, run where Bethlem blest appears." (M.) 

prevent. To get before lliom. Cf. Merchant of Venice^ i. 1 : 

" I had stayiMl till 1 had made you merry 
If woi-thicr fri(!n<ls had not prevented me." 

27. Angel Quire. Luke ii. KJ, 14, 

28. secret altar. h<tiah vi. (>. 

30. wanton with the Sun, etc. Cf. Elofjn v. : 

"Earth now desires thee, riicebus ! and to engage 
Thy warm embrace, casts off the guise of age." 

39. guilty front. The Mediieval idea that nature was evil. 



126 NOTES 

For contrast to this see Wordsworth or Coleridge, who do not 
degrade nature even to extol (lod. 

48. turning sphere. Here Milton views the ten spheres as 
one universe. 

50. turtle. Turtle-dove. Cf. Winter's Tale, v. 3 : 

" I, an old turtle, 
Will wing me to some w^ither'd bough." 

53-60. No war, etc. The world in contrast to this Babe. 
hooked. Scythe-bearing. 

04, 65. The winds with wonder whist, etc. Hushed. Cf. 
"Ariel's Song" : 

" Curtsied when you have, and kiss'd 
The wild waves whist." 

Tempest, i. 2. 

QQ. Ocean. Pronounced in three syllables. 
68. birds of calm. Halcyons. Sea is calm at time of tlieir 
incubation in winter solstice. 
71. precious influence. Allusion to astrology. 
73. For all, etc. Cf. Macbeth, iv. 2 : 

" My father is not dead for all your saying." 

77-84. And, though the shady gloom, etc. Cf. Spenser, 
Shepheards Calendar (April) : 

" He blushed to see another Sun below, 
Ne durst again his fiery face outshow. 
I/Ct him if he dare. 
His brightness compare 
With hers, to have the overthrow." 

85, lawn. Clear place in the forest. 

86. Or ere. Cf. Hamlet, i. 2 : 

" Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven 
Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio." 

88. than. Old form of then. 



NOTES 127 

89. mighty Pan. The real being so long dreamt of as Pan, 
the god of shepherds. (M.) Cf. Shepheards Calendar (May): 

" When great Pan accent of shepherdes shall aske." 

95. strook. Old form for struck. Cf . Paradise Lost, vi. 863 ; 

" The monstrous sight 
Strook them with horror backward." 

Cf. Paradise Begained : 

" So strook with dread and anguish fell the Fiend." — iv. 576. 

"And thou were the kindest man that ever strake with 
sword." — Malory, Morte D'' Arthur. 

97. noise. Cf. Ancient Mariner : 

" Yet still the sails made on 
A pleasant noise till noon." 

98. As all. Suppose "such" of line 93 repeated before 
"divinely warbled." (M.) 

100. close. Cadence. 

106. its. Used by Milton only three times. Paradise Lost : 

"The mind is its own place," etc. — i. 254. 

' ' returns 
Of force to its own likeness." — iv. 813. 

116. unexpressive. Unexpressible. Cf. As You Like It, iii. 3 : 

"The fair, the chaste, the unexpressive she." 

117-124. Such music, etc. Cf. Job xxxviii. 4-12 : 

" Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened ? 
Or who laid the corner stone thereof ; 
When the morning stars sang together ? " etc. 

Cf. Paradise Lost, vii. 561, 562 : 

- ' ' The heavens and all the constellations rung, 

The planets in their stations listening stood," etc. 



128 NOTES 

125-182. Ring out, etc. Massoii tells us that about the time, 
of writiuii,- this poem, Milton wrote a prose piece, De Sphaera- 
rum Concoitu, in wliich he held that celestial music might be 
perceived by minds duly prepared. 

130. And let the bass, etc. "The instruments which Milton 
preferred as a nuisit-ian were the organ and the bass viol." (M.) 
132. consort. Fellowship. Cf. Faerie Qneene, III. i. 46 : 
" AVonder was to hear their trim consort." 
13(). speckled. Covered with plague spots. 
141, 142. Truth and Justice, etc. As Astraea was to return to 
earth, according to the old myth, when the Golden Age should 
come again. 

147, 148. And Heaven, etc. Cf. Tennyson, In Memoriam, 
Ixxxv. : 

' ' The great Intelligences fair 

That range above our mortal state, 
In circle round the blessed gate, 
Received and gave him wTlcome there." 

168. The Old Dragon. Cf. Bev. xx. 1-3. 

172. Swinges. Lashes. 

173. The Oracles are dumb. The gods of the heathen are 
extinct. 

185. poplar pale. White poplar. 

191. Lars and Lemures. God of the family; and spirits, 
ghosts and goblins. 

194. flamens. Priests. 

195. chill marble, etc. A prodigy common among the 
ancients. 

197-220. Peor and Baalim, etc. Cf. Paradise Lost, i. 392- 
489, for these Phronician, Assyrian and Egyptian gods. 

201. queen and mother both. In Selden's De Bits Syr is, 
Ashtaroth is alluded to as regina coeli and mater deum. (M.) 

223. eyn or eyne. Old plural of eye. Common in Chaucer, 
Spenser and Shakespeare. 

Milton and Tennyson were fond of phonetic spelling where it 
would aid the music, 



NOTES 129 

220. Typhon huge. Greek name for Egyptian god Set, or 
Suti, one of tlie l^rotliers of Osiris. (M.) 

232-234. The flocking shadows, etc. Cf. Midsummer NighVs 
Dream, iii. 2 : 

" And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger ; 
At whose approach ghosts wandering here and tliere 
Troop liome to churchyards." 

Cf. also Hamlet, i. 4 : 

' ' Fare thee well at once ! 
The glow worm shows the matin to be near." 

235, 236. the yellow-skirted fays, etc. The fairies haste 
away at morn, following the nightmares or nighthags. (M.) 
Cf. Paradise Lost, ii. 662, 663 : 

"Nor uglier fellow, the nighthag, when, called 
In secret, riding through the air she comes." 

240. youngest teemed. Latest born, Star of Bethlehem. Cf. 
Macbeth, iv. 3: 

" Each minute teems a new one." 

244. Bright-harnessed. Bright armored. Cf. Macbeth, v. 5 : 

" We'll die with harness on." 

1630-1645 

Upon the Circumcision 
(In Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 

The year 1630 gives us this and the following five poems 
which are sufficient to establish the Miltonic tone, because of 
their richness of epithet, originality of diction, and suggestive- 
ness of phrase. 

The first stanza of the poem reveals the fact that it was 
intended as a sequel to the previous poem in the Nativity. 
Masson assigns it to the Feast of Circumcision (January 1) fol- 
lowing the Christmas of 1629. 

The reader should study what Mr. Stopford Brooke has called 



130 NOTES 

'•tlie abru])!. and })owerful rliytlun which suits so well the iiuick 
rush jiud (|uiek closing of condensed thouj;'ht." 

M. luhuond Scherer, the French I'ritic, says : '' There is 
nothiuj;" (in the Milton of the early poems) repulsive or morose. 
lie is pure without too iimch severity, grave without fanaticism ; 
full of original dainties, of gracious strength. He is a son of 
the North who has felt the Italian influence : an aftergrowth of 
the Ri'naissance, but a growth full of strange and novel flavor." 

1. Ye flaming Powers and winged Warriors bright. Sera- 
phim and (^herubim. 

2-(>. That erst with music, etc. Milton thus connects this 
poem with the preceding. 

7-J). Your fiery essence, etc. If it is impossible for your 
angelic constitutions, formed as they are of tire, to yield tears, 
yet by burning as you sigh, you may borrow the water of our 
tears turned into vapor. (M.) 

10, whilere. A while since. 

" Will you trt)ll the catch 
You taught me but while-ere ? " 

Tempest, iii. 2. 

15-20. more exceeding love, etc. Cf. Browning, Saul: 

-AlTs love yet all's law." 

24, excess. Transgression. 

1630-1645 
The r.vssiox 

The opening stanza of this i>oeni reveals its relation to the 
poem on the y<ttiiu't>/. Masson says this was probably written 
for Easter, Terhaps the fact that the Tlague ravaged Cambridge 
during tlu> Kaster-term may have lent color to the poem. 

It is naturally very diflicult to eliminate from these poems 
impressions brought from associating with the IMillon of I'ara- 
dise Lost, but it must be done if we are t(^ read the poems in 
the atmosphere whii-h produced them. INIasson says that the 
habitual seriousness of JNlilton at this time was not that of " the 



NOTES 131 

noblu party of Puritans, but a constitutional seriousness ratified 
and nourished by rational retlection." 

It seems that Milton early planned a series of jioenis in cele- 
bration of each division of the Christian Year, but that (as the 
note appended to this reveals) he found the task too great for 
him. 

I. Erewhile. Allusion to the Ode on the XdticUy. 
4. divide to sing. To share the son,i;\ 

V-K Most perfect Hero, llehrcirs ii. 10. 

11>. mask. Mas(iui! or drama, thus carry ini;' out the idea of 
line 2. 

2.'). my Phoebus. My soni;-. 

2"), 2(). otherwhere are found, etc. By Marco Cirolamo 
Villa of Cremona in his Latin Toem T/ie C/nistiad (M.) 

;M, 35. The leaves should all be black, etc. " In old elegies 
the pages were black and llic letters white." (M.) 

;5(;-;)S). See, see the chariot, etc. Ezeklel i. 

4:5. sepulchral rock. The Holy Sepulchre, 

ol. Take up a weeping, etc. Jeremiah ix. 10. 

f)('>. Had got a race of mourners. Ixion-like. 

1630-1645 

On Time 

(In Milton's own liaiul in the Cambridge MSS.) 

The title of this poem in the Cambridge Mss. of Milton is : 
On Time — To he set on a Clock Case. This explains the 
" plummet's pace" in the third line. 

Compare the movement of this poem with that of The Cir- 
cumcision. Which is the more powerful ';' 

3. heavy plummet's pace. Cf. Shakespeare, Sonnet Ixxvii. 

"Thou by thy dial's shady stealth mayst know 
Time's thievish jirogress to eternity." 

12. individual. Here and elsewhere in Milton in the sense 
of not to bi^ separated from. Cf . Paradise Lost : 

"Henceforth an individual solace dear." — iv. 480. 



132 NOTES 

" With thousand lesser lights dividual holds." — vii. 382. 

"And from her hath no dividual being," — xii. 85. 

18. happy-making sight. "Beatific vision." Ci. Paradise 
Lost, iii. 62 : 

" And from his sight receiv'd 
Beatitude past utterance.' ' 

1630-1645 

At a Solemn Music 

(Three drafts in Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 

The title might well be At a Symphony. Milton was nurt- 
ured in an atmosphere of song. His father was a musician 
and composer of some reputation. His compositions have 
found a place in collections of the best music. He composed 
the tunes of York and Norwich so universal now. He contrib- 
uted to a volume of Madrigals known as The Tnumphes of 
Oriaiia, sung before Queen Elizabeth ; and his music appears 
in many other collections. 

" Thyself 
Art skilled to associate verse with airs 
Harmonious, and give the human voice 
A thousand modulations, heir by right 
Indisputable of Arion's fame. 
Now say, what wonder is it if a son 
Of thine delight in verse, if so conjoined 
In close affinity, we sympathise 
In social arts, and kindred studies sweet." 

Ad Patrem. 

In his Tractate on Education Milton said of the interim be- 
tween exercise and meat: "It may, both with profit and de- 
light, be taken up in recreating and composing their (the pupils) 
travailed spirits with the solemn and divine harmonies of music, 
heard or learned ; either while the skilful organist plies his 
grave and fancied descant in lofty fugues, or the whole sym- 
phony with artful and unimaginable touches adorn and grace 



NOTES 133 

the well-studied chords of some choice composer ; sometimes 
the lute or soft organ-stop waiting on elegant voices, either to 
religious, martial, or civil ditties ; which, if wise men and 
prophets do not extremely err, have a great power over disposi- 
tions and manners to smooth and make them gentle." 

Masson says : "Often must Milton as a child have bent over 
his father while composing, or listened to him as he played. 
Not unfrequently of an evening, if one or two of his father's 
musical acquaintances dropt in there would be voices enough in 
the Spread Eagle for a little household concert. Then might 
the well printed and well kept set of Orianas be brought out ; 
and each one present taking a suitable part, the child might 
hear, and always with fresh delight his father's own madrigal : 

' Then sang those shepherds and nymphs of Diana, 
Lon^ live fair Oriana, long live fair Oriana.' 

Nor would the opening words of the 27th Psalm, doubtless often 
sung in the family to York tune, be without a deeper significance : 

'The Lord is both my health and light ; 
Shall men make me dismayed ? ' etc. 

Joining with his young voice in these exercises of the family 
the boy became a singer as soon as he could speak. We see 
him going to the organ for his own amusement, picking out 
little melodies by the ear, and stretching his tiny fingers in 
.search of pleasing chords." 

Green says: "Milton's youth shows us how much of the 
gayety, the poetic ease, the intellectual culture of the renas- 
cence lingered in the Puritan home." 

De Quincey was the first to compare the Miltonic movement 
to the qualities of an organ voluntary, and Tennyson in his 
magnificent tribute has elaborated the figure. 

Mr. Richard Garnett says : "This is perhaps the most perfect 
expression of Milton's ideal of song." 

Mr. Stopford Brooke says: "The spirit and power of this 
poem may be best expressed by saying that Milton 

' His loud uplifted angel trumpet blew.' " 



sori^s 



" hi the Ablu'y I'luuch of Tcwlisbury art" still heard llu» 
huu's (>r lilt' very oruaii on wliirli Milton playi'd lu'lorc Croiu- 
wfll at llampiltMi Courl. ; and the pu-tufc thus evoked lunn tho 
past syniboli/.es tlu> (nie iidhienet" of juuMs siu'h as Danio and 
Milton on the eoudnet of a eoniinonweallh." — Kijnkst Mykks. 

Wordswoith in his siinnet on llu> Sonnet ns(>s this oxpi'ession 

rtM'errin;;,' to Milton : 

" In his hand 

'l'ln> Ihini;- lu^eanio a. l.nimiu>(. ; whence lu> blew 

Sonl-aiiinialin;;- strains — -alas, too Tew." 

It is not uidikely that Milton had in mind the musie ot 
King's College C'hainl to \\l\ieh >>'onls\\orth alludes: 

" List ! () list ! 
The niusie bursteth inlt> si>ettnil life ; 
'riu> not(>s luxuriate, t>very stone is kissed 
\\'ith sound, or i;hos| oi sound, in nia/y strit\> ; 
lb>art thrilling strains, Ihat east. bt>t'ort> llu^ eyi^ 
OI" the di'voul, a vimI of ecstasy." 

///.s-/(/«' h'i nil's ( \i//('(/(' i'hapcl. 

TeunysiMi t>n revisit in-;- l\unbridgt> says : 

"And lu>ard once move in (\*llt\m> fanes, 
The storm their high-built organs make, 
Aiul (hunder-nmsic, rolling, shake 
The prophetvS bla/.ouM t>n the paiu>s." 

/// Mt'Dun'iaui, i.xwvn. 

I'f. Washington Irving's description o\' nuisie in Skdcli Hook 
i^Westuiinster Abbey>. Cf. l»ray, (KliU'r Music. 

\\\ eon\paring lht> thrt>e drafts o\' this poiuu in the Cambridge 
Mss. we gel a gotnl idea o( Milton's care in recasting. 

',\. This liui' originally was: "Mix your cluuce words, and 
happiest sounds iMuploy." 

4. r>. HiMwiHM\ these lines there was in llu> lirst draft tlu> fol- 
Kwving : 

•• And whilst your e»|nal raptiu'cs, tei\iiHM'd swctM, 
In high mysterious spi>Uvsal mi>et. 



NOTES lljr) 



Siiiil.cli us from cMrlli a. wliilo, 

Us of ourselves aud ualive \vo(*s beguile." 

('». concent, l/aliii ntiKUiiliis, liariuoiiy. 

10. burninj;. This was " princely " in liisl , and "■ trilled " in 
second drall. 

I I . 'I'liis line has Miree I'ornis : 

(1) '''I'heii- loud innnoiial liiinipels blow." 

(2) " Lond symphony ol sihcr Irnnipcts blow." 
{'A) " llii;h-liri('(l, hnid, and iingel-lruniix'ls blow." 

rj. Ori-inally: 

"• .\nd Chcrnbini, sweel, winded squires," 

11. victorious. Originally '' the blooniin;;." 
1(1. holy. ( >ri,i;inally '' sacred.'" 

7-l<'>. sapphire-coloured throne, elc. (T. AV.c/./V/ i. 'Ji; ; 
Ucrcliitiitn. v., xi. 
After line l(! in (he liist drall was a couplet now omitted: 

" VVIiil(! all (he slarry roinids and arches bine 
Hcssonnd and echo llalleln." 

IcS. After this line in lirst i\\\\U (here wei'c three lines, now 
ouiitlcd, in jtlacc of the seven we now liaAC: 

"■ \\y leaving' out Ibosc^ luirsli ill-soundinj^' jars 
Of clamorous sin thai all our nuisi(r mai's : 
And in onr lives and in our soni,^ 
May keep in linie with Heaven," etc. 

In the second diafl, lh(( lirst two lines Iiei'e ai'c: 

'' \\y leavin^f out those haish chi'ouuttic jarH 
Of sin thai all our nnisic. mars." 

I!>. did, ori,;;ina,lly "could." This line rennnds us of the lirst 
in I'dradisf l.ust : 

"Of maii\s lirst disobedience," etc. 

27. consort. Society. 
2K. Ori-iually : 

"To live and sini; with lliiu in uvur-cudlesH li;;ht." 



136 NOTES 

Other variations are : 

''To live ami sing with Ilini in ever-glorious light." 

"To live and sing with Him in nneelips^il light." 

"To live and sing with Him wlierr Day dwells without Night." 

"To live and sing with Him in endless nu)rn of light." 

"To live and sing with Him in elontlless birth of light." 

" To live and sing with Him in never-parting light." (M.) 

1630-1645 

Song on INIay JMonNiNO 

This little poem reminds ns of those exquisite snatches in the 
Elizabethan dramatists, and suggests the charm of V Allegro. 

" And fresscher than the May with llonres newe, — 

For INIay wole hau no sloggardye anight. 
The sesoun priketh every gentil herte, 
Anil maketh him out of his sleep to sterte, 
And seith, ' Arys, and do thin observaunce,' 
To don honour to JNlay." 

CuAucKH, Knight^ s Tale. 

Mr. Augustine Birrell says : " A study of these minor poems 
will enable us half sailly to realize lunv nuich went and how 
much was sacriticed to make the author of raradise Lost.'''' 

1630-1632-1645 

Ox SUAKESPEARE 

This perfect little poem tirst apiieared printed anonymously 
in the Second Folio of Shakespeare's Works, lO.'Vi, with the title, 
An Epitaph on the Admirahle DramaticJc Poet, W. ShaJcespeare. 
The First Folio was published in lO^o, two years before INIilton 
entered Cambridge, and we must believe that he would not be 
long without one of these in his possession. How carefully he 
read it, and how completely he was in sympathy with the mind 
of the great dramatist is revealed in this poem, perhaps the 
greatest of all great tributes paid to this child of Fancy. Masson 



NOTES 137 

has given a suggestive hint as to the origin of the poem. He thinks 
that it was probably written in Milton's copy of the First Folio. 
In the original editions of Milton's poems it bears the date 1(530. 
It is but natural to compare this poem with Ben Jonson's 
prefixed to the First Folio : 

STo t^e lUnnorg of mg belobeti, 
THE AUTHOR, 

MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE; 

AND 

WHAT HE HATH LEFT US. 

' ' Soule of the Age ! 
The applaufe ! delight ! the wonder of our Stage ! 

My Shakespeare, rife : I will not lodge thee by 
Chaucer, or Spenfer, or bid Beaumont lye 

A little further, to make thee a roome : 
Thou art a Moniment, without a tombe. 

And art alive ftill, while thy Booke doth live, 
And we have wits to read, and praise to give. 

Sweet Swan of Avon ! what a fight it were 
To fee thee in our waters yet appeare, 

And make those flights upon the bankes of Thames, 
That fo did take Eliza, and our James ! 

But ftay, I fee thee in the Hemisphere 
Advanc'd, and made a conftellation there ! 

Shine forth ! thou Starre of Poets, and with rage. 
Or inliuence, chide, or cheere the drooping Stage ; 

Which, fince thy flight fro hence, hath mourn'd like night. 
And defpaires day, but for thy Volumes light." 

It would be interesting to know the occasion of this poem. 
Was it that about this time a monument to Shakespeare was 
being proposed? The Stratford monument was erected as 
early as 1623, for, in the First Folio, we have the lines of 
Leonard Digges : 



188 



/V()77';N 



' Sli;ikt'sp(Mrt\ al It'Uj'.Mi tliy pitMis I'l'Uowcs i;iv(> 
'VUv wmid tliy W'tuUt's ; lliy W'orkcs, by which (nitlivc 
Thy Tombt" (liy name must : w hrii thai stoiu' is rent 
Ami 'riiin> (lissoivt'S Ihy Sliallonl Moiiimcnt, 
lli'ir \V(> alive shall \it'\\ thee still. This l>i>i»k, 
NVhtMi Hrass and Marble I'ath', shall make thrt> look 
Fresh io all A;;(>s." 

•I. star ypoinlinjj;. This is oi" IMilloii's I'oiuiiii;', as tlu> iMclix 
// belony,s Diily (o past passiM* parlifiplc (T. //.IZ/cj/rc, lli : 

"In In>a\en yrK'[)l Fuphi-os) ni>.'" 

S. livelotiv;. In tht> print of Second l''olio this is /(f.sY/;/;/. (M.) 

'.», 10. to the sh.'ime of slow endeavoring art, ele. I>oi>s this 
imply that Milton wroii.u'hl with slowness ? 

Ilcmin;',e and Condell, the ediloi-s of llu> l-'irsl l<'olio of Shaki'- 
speare's works, said: "His mind and hand went to,>;'ethi>r ; 
and what lu> thoniiht lu> uttered with that i>asiness tliat we ha\t> 
searei> nu'eived from him a blot on his papiTs." lien .lonson 
says: " lie w:is indt>ed honest, of an open and frt>e n;ilnr(<; had 
an t>xeellent ph;inlasy, bravt* notions, antl j;-entK> i>\pressiitMs ; 
wluMHMn lu> How I'd with (hat facility that, soniotiiues if was 
neet>ss;ii-y \\c shonld he st»>pped." 

11. unvalued. lnv;dn;iblt\ 

\'2. Delphic. Inspind. 

II. Dost make us marble. tMe. Massons;iys: "'Dost tnrn 
us into m;u-bl(> by tlu> efftU't of thonuht to whieh thou eompelU^sl 
us.' ;i very «>\ai't ih'scription oi Sh;dv.esp(>ari''s (M'fci't on his 
re;iders. The s(Mis(> bein;.; th;U we. Shakc'speare's readers, are 
lh(> irui' UKublc o{ his tond>. or monun\iMit." 



1031 1645 
(>N rue 1' Mv i;ksi i'\ ('\kkii:k 

These twe piect>s avc inlercstin-; n\or(> from tluMi- subjinM, th;iu 
from ;>ny rc;d merit whii'h (hey possess. 

Thomas llobson was an in>poii;int ch;ir;icter in the lifi> of tin* 
Uuivei-sitv for more (hau sixtv ve;us. Durim; that linn' he h;id 



NOTES 



\:\\) 



uvm\v w(!i>.kly trips to Hull liiii, nislmp-;!!,!.", Sln-cl, :is ciirricr of 
I»;uv(-1h, \('XU)VH iind i)aKS('ii-;<Ts. Such ;i, luiui \v;is likely In '^ri 
vory ol«)S(i to tlin Htiulcnts, lor he, kept :i sl-;il>l<" :iih1 let licrscs. 
VVlicii a, stiKlciil, was ridiiiK too laKt, llobsoii would cry out, 
" Vou will '^vl llicrc sooner if you don't ride too last." 

it is recorded that he rc(iiiiicd every student to lake the horse 
noiirost th(^ door of the slaJ>le, '^so I hat every customer was 
alike well served a,cc<»rdin;; to his ehanc-e, and every hoise ridden 
with the same justie.(!." Ileiico tho common Haying, '' llobson's 
eiioice.'" 

Me continuc^d ids trips until he was eif;lily-six, and tlu'ii the 
ria|;u(^ l)rok(! out in (;and)ridj;(' ; the collefACS were cloHcd and 
Ihe town (iuara-nlin(M|. lie escaped the lMa;;ue, but, arcordin|j; 
to Milton, enrorced idlenitss ciuised his death, .Ian. 1, KJol. 
lie 1(^11, (pute a fortune, and provided thai a, town conduit be 
per|)etua.lly maJntaineil, and this, known as llobson's Conduit, 
can b(! seen at the present lime. 

Milton was not very successtul in his allempis to be hinuorous, 
but amends are nia,d(^ b.r this in the lact thai he reveals his love 
for th(^ old man. Cf. Wordswortirs W'di/i/oiirr, and Cowpei's 
'' I'osl-boy "in The. Task. 

f). 'Twas. lie was. 

H. Dodged with him. Followed him. 

11-IH. But lately, finding, itc Death is of conrs(^ the 
omitUid subj(!Ct here. 

Anopiikh on nil', Samu 

T). Sphere-metal. As endininj; as the spheres. 

II. Too long vacation hastened on his term. A play upon 
the, contrast of LmKj Viiralioii. in eollc<;c and Tcriii. time, 

20. six bearers: of the c(»nin <-oulainin.i', Hm- University 
Carrier. 

'Jil, :;(►. Obedient to the moon. Ilobson made four jouiik^h 
a. luonlli, two roinid Irips. (M. ) 

:J2. wain. Wa,f;i;ou. The play is on the sound of wain. \u\<\ 
wane. 



140 J^OTES 

1631-1645 
An Ei'iTAiMi ON Tin; Maihmiionkss ok Winciikstkr 

Masson tolls us l.liiit in an old Ms. voUuno of ixxmus tran- 
scribed for private use by some lover of poetry early in the 
sixteenth century, now in the Ayscouj:;h collection in the British 
Mnsruni, is this i)oeni with the inscription, '' On the iWnrhtoucss 
of WiiiA-hcsfcr, trho died in childbedd, April 1'), 1(;;51. ,/o. 
Milton, i>f Chr. Coll. Camhr.'' 

'IMie beautiful and acconii)lisluMl lady was the dau!j,hti'r of 
Thomas, Viscount, Sa\'a,i;'c, and Elizabeth, (la.ui;lit('r of the I^arl 
of Hivers. Her husband was John I'aulet, fifth Manjuis of 
Winchester. Taulct, was a Konian Catholic and took a i>n)ini- 
nent ])aTt in the civil wars. Tlie fact that Milton wrote this 
poem shows conchisively that he had no stn)n<;- antii)athy to 
Catholics at this time. Hen Jonson, then poet-laureate, wrote 
an elegy upon the sainc occasion, which appears as the one 
hundredth in his colU'ction t-ntitlcd Underwoods : 

'' What giMitle i;li(\st, besprent with April dew, 
Hails mc so solcmidy to yonder yew ? 
And bcckoninj;- woos me from the fatal tree 
'1\) pluck a garland for luM'sclf and me ? 
I do obey you, beauty, for in death 
You seem a fair one. 

Her sweetness, softness, her fair courtesy, 
Her wary guards, her wise simplicity. 
Were like a ring of Virtues 'bout her set, 
And IMcly the centre when* all nu>t. 
A reverenil state sln^ had, an awful eye, 
A dazzling, yet inviting majesty. 

Let angels sing her glories, who did call 
Her spirit home to her original ; 
Who saw th(> way was, made it, and were sent 
To carry and C(Muluct the ctuniilimcnt 



NOTES 141 

'Tvvixt doalli ;iiul life, wIkto \iv.v mortality 
Became her birthday to eternity." 

Mr. Slopford Brooke, s])eakiiij; of Milton's poem, says : "The 
metre, the seven-syllabled trochaic, the ti'ick of whicli as used 
with wonderful sweetness by ShakesiK-are and tlu^ Elizabethans 
we seem to have lost, was never, v.vvw by Milton himself, more 
ex(iuisiti'ly used than in (his little lyric." 

Throughout tliese i)oenis W(! notice the foundation laid in 
relii;ion i)ure and undeliled. 'I'lu! su])ei-stru(iui-e is of tiie en- 
(Inrini;- (lualily of (Jreek and Latin, while the decorations arc; of 
the Renaissance. 

7, H, Summers three times eight, etc She died when but 
twenty-three years of a-i^e. 

l.'J. had had no strife. She would havci lived to old a^e. 
14-24. In llie ori,<;inal Ms. instead of these lines the following 
are found : 

. . . ''to her life 
Seven times had the yearly starre 
Of everie signe sett upp his carr 
Since for her they did request 
The ji;o(l that sitts at marria-f2:e feasts, 
When lirst the earlie matrons runne 
To greet her of her lovelie sonne. 
And now," etc. (M.) 

17. The virgin quire. Hridesmaids. 

22. cypress-bud. C'ypress, the synd)ol of mourning. C'f. In 
Memoriam, lx.wiv, : 

" But thai remorseless iron lioui' 
Made cypress of hei- orange-liower." 

24, lovely son. He became sixth Manjuis of Winchester. 

2(5. Lucina. (Joddcss of childbirth. 

28. Atropos. 'I'he three Fates were Clotho, who spun 
the thread of life ; Lachesis, who decided its length ; and 
Atropos, who cut it off. (" slits the thin-spun life." — Lycidas, 
70.) 



142 NOTES 

35. slip. Plant. 

50. seize. In the legal sense of possess. 

56. Helicon. Mountain of the Muses. 

58. hearse. Tomb. 

59. Came. Cambridge. Masson suggests that this may have 
been but one of many elegies written on this occasion at Cam- 
bridge. 

63-70. That fair Syrian shepherdess. Rachel. Cf. Oen. 
xxix., XXX., XXXV. 

1631-1645 

On His having Arrived at the Age of Twenty-three 

(In Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 

Among the Italians there originated a form of verse combina- 
tion in which a special rhyme arrangement prevailed ; to this the 
name '• sonnet " was given. It was a short poem limited to the 
expression of a single idea ; soon fourteen lines became the fixed 
length, and later these lines were combined according to intri- 
cate rules. Following these rules the ideal sonnet should con- 
form to the following conditions : It must consist of fourteen 
5 xa verses divided into two systems — the major system, con- 
sisting of the first eight lines, complete in themselves ; and then 
the minor system, with six concluding lines. The major system 
should contain but two rhymes: 1, 4, 5, 8, and 2, 3, 6, 7, con- 
cluding with a pause in the sense. In the minor system there 
should be only two rhymes : 9, 11, 13, and 10, 12, 14. Other 
rules were laid down, many of which were merely capricious, 
but these were insisted upon. 

The earliest forms of the sonnet belong to the thirteenth cen- 
tury. Fra Guittone d'Arrezzo furnished the model for Dante 
and Petrarch, who perfected this form of writing, the one giving 
it strength, the other beauty. That period of English literature 
which was the prelude to the age of Spenser and Shakespeare 
received its main impulse from Italy. The influence of Chaucer 
had declined, and intellectual life disappeared with religious 
liberty. 

Toward the end of the fifteenth century the nobility, possibly 



NOTES 143 

shamed by the contrast to the Scottish court, began to give 
some thought to the education of their children. The literary 
centre of Europe was at the brilliant court of Lorenzo de Medici, 
and hither flocked the scholars of all countries. When English- 
men returned filled with enthusiasm, and became tutors, they 
stimulated their pupils with c^ desire to visit Italy, the land of 
promise. 

It was to this secondary influence of the Revival of Learning 
that the new movement in literature was due. The heralds of 
the dawn were Sir Thomas Wyatt, and Henry Howard, Earl of 
Surrey, "who had tasted the sweet and stately measures and 
style of Italian poesy." To them belongs the honor of reform- 
ing the literature and introducing the sonnet into our language. 
Petrarch was their model, and love their theme. AVyatt fol- 
lowed the Italian model very closely, and his work is character- 
ized by strength and dignity. Surrey introduced some changes 
into the form of the sonnet : he divided it into three independent 
quatrains, and closed with a couplet. His work was distinguished 
for grace and beauty. 

During the last ten years of the sixteenth century and the 
first ten of the seventeenth there was a most remarkable pro- 
duction of sonnets. The list, headed by Sidney, contains the 
names of Daniel, Constable, Lodge, Watson, Drayton, Spenser, 
and Shakespeare. 

It was the Renaissance which gave charm and refreshment to 
English poetry, and Spenser is a child of the Renaissance. His 
sonnets— the story of his "patient wooing and happy winning 
of the lady of his love ' ' — are characterized by ardor, grace 
and tenderness. The following is a dedication of all his "leaves, 
lines, and rymes" bearing the message of love : 
" Happy, ye leaves ! when as those lilly hands, 
Which hold my life in their dead-doing might, 
Shall handle you, and hold in love's soft hands, 
Lyke captives trembling at the victor's sight. 
And happy lines ! on which, with starry light. 
Those lamping eyes will deigne sometimes to look, 
And reade the sorrowes of my dying spright, 



144 NOTES 

Writt(Mi with toavcs in harts el(is(>-blee(liiif; booke. 

And hapjjy rymes ! bathM in the sacred brooke 

Ot" Helicon, whence sh(^ derived is; 

When ye behold that Angels blessed looke, 

My soules king-lacked fooile, my heaven's bliss, 

Leaves, lines, and rynies, seeke her to please alone, 
Whom if ye please, I care for other none ! " 

Sjienser often devoted the three (Quatrains of a sonnet to a 
single fignre, as in this : 

" Lyke as a hnntsman after weary chace, 
Seeing the game from him escapt away, 
Sits dowjie to rest him in some shady place. 
With panting honnds begnil^d of their pray : 
So, after long pnrsnit and vaine assay, 
When I all weary had the chace forsooke, 
'J'he gentle deare retnrned the selfe same way. 
Thinking to (jnench her thirst at the next brooke. 
There she, beholding me with mylder looke, 
Sought not to Hy, but fearlesse did bide. 
Till I in hand her yet halfe trembling tooke, 
And with her own goodc-will her fyrmcly tied. 
Strange thing, me seemd, to see a beast so wyld. 
So goodly wonne, with her own will begnyld." 

These sonnets consist of three quatrains and a c(Miplet. 
The (juatrains are linked together by a peculiar rhyme scheme, 
ab ab^ be ?>c, cd cd, ec. 

Shakespeare used the sonnet as a great sculptor might use the 
precious stone upon which to cut the cameo. In it he half 
revealed and half concealed his attachment for tlie darkhaired, 
dark eyed Master, — mistress of his passion. 

'' When in disgrace with fortunt' and men's eyes, 
I all alone beweep my outcast state, 
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, 
And look upon myself and curse my fate. 
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope. 
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, 



NOTES 145 

Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope, 
With what I most enjoy contented least ; 
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, 
Haply I think on thee, and then my state, 
Like to the lark at break of day arising 
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate : 
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings 
That then I scorn to change my state with kings." 

"Thine eyes I love, and they as pitying me. 
Knowing thy heart torments me with disdain. 
Have put on black and loving mourners be, 
Looking with pretty ruth ui)on my pain. 
And truly not the morning sun of heaven 
Better becomes the gaj'^ cheeks of the east, 
Nor that full star that ushers in the even 
Doth half that glory to the sober west, 
As those two mourning eyes become thy face : 
O, let it then as well beseem thy heart 
To mourn for me, since mourning doth thee grace, 
And suit thy pity, like in every part. 
Then will I swear beauty herself is black. 
And all they foul that thy complexion lack." 

In these sonnets we have three quatrains, each with its own 
system of rhyme, and a couplet. This is a striking departure 
from the sonnet proper, and yet it produces the greatest artistic 
effect. The rhyme scheme is ah ab, vd cd, ef ef, gg. With 
Shakespeare the use of the fourfold division of the sonnet 
ceases. 

Milton's sonnets, although few in number, are of the finest 
quality. In structure they follow the Tetrarchian model, which 
divides the sonnet into two unecinal parts, the major and the 
minor. This is the second form of the English sonnet, — 
i, 4, 5, S, 2, 3, 6, 7, II 5, 11, 13, 10, 12, I4. 
abba, abba \\ cd.cd.cd, or 
Rhyme scheme : abba, abba \\ cde, cde. 
abba, abba \\ cde, dee. 



146 I^OTES 

AVe are not surprised that Milton should choose the sonnet as 
a means of revealing his mind and art. He was a learned and 
elegant classical scholar ; he was acquainted with Kabbinical 
literature ; he knew every language of modern Europe; and 
whenever reason seemed to justify it he appropriated such forms 
as would serve his purpose. Fattison says : " He had put his 
poetical genius to school to the Italians, Dante, Petrarch and 
the rest. The tradition of the sonnet, coming from what had 
not ceased to be regarded as the home of learning, appealed to 
his classical feelings." 

Macaulay says: "Traces, indeed, of the peculiar character 
of Milton may be found in all his works ; but it is most strongly 
displayed in the sonnets. Those remarkable forms have been 
undervalued by critics who have not understood their nature. 
They are simple but majestic records of the feelings of the poet, 
as little tricked out for the public eye as his diary would have 
been. The unity of sentiment and severity of style which char- 
acterize these little pieces remind us of the Greek Anthology, 
or perhaps still more of the collects of the English Liturgy." 

Hitherto the sonnet had been confined to a single theme — 
love, but in Milton's hands it was made to reveal the personal, 
the national, and the universal, as these ideas shaped themselves 
in his mind. 

The title of this sonnet reveals the date of composition, Dec. 9, 
1C31, while the contents reveal the experience through which 
the university student was passing as he approached the end of 
his course and must choose his profession. That there were 
those of his friends who believed his dutj^ was to enter the 
Church or some of the active professions ; who considered a 
studious life somewhat aimless, is revealed very clearly in a letter 
\vritten by him upon the subject. In the Cambridge Mss. there 
is a letter of which this sonnet was a part. He saj^s : "That 
you may see that I am something suspicious of myself, and do 
take notice of a certain belatedness in me, I am the bolder to 
send you some of my nightward thoughts some little while ago, 
because they came in not altogether unfitly, made up in a Pe- 
trarchian stanza which I told you of." Alluding to choice of 



NOTES 147 

a profession, he says that a ' ' Sacred reverence and religious ad- 
visement, not taking tliought of being late so it gave advantage 
to be more fit,'''' had lield him back. "Coming to some maturity 
of years, and perceiving wliat tyranny had invaded in tlie Church, 
that he who would take orders nmst subscribe slave, and take 
an oath withal, which unless he took with a conscience that 
would retch, he nmst either straight perjure or split his faith, I 
thought it better to prefer a blameless silence before the sacred 
office of speaking, bought and begun with servitude and for- 
swearing." 

"Nurse 
My heart in genuine freedom — all pure thoughts 
Be with me ; so shall thy unfailing love 
Guide and support and cheer me to the end." 

Wordsworth, Excursion, Introduction. 

Something has already been said regarding the moral quality 
of the creator of high art, and in these days when we hear so 
much of the moral indifference of art, it is refreshing and reas- 
suring to turn to the revelations which such artists as Milton, 
Wordsworth, Ruskin and Tennyson are giving us. Masson says 
that he who does not know and lay stress upon the moral ear- 
nestness of Milton the youth, "the outward manifestation of 
which was a life of pure and devout observance, knows not and 
loves not Milton. Fancy, ye to whom the moral frailty of genius 
is a consolation, or to whom the association of virtue with youth 
and Cambridge is a jest — fancy Milton at the age of twenty-three 
returning to his father's house from the University, full of its 
accomplishments and its honors, an auburn-haired youth, beauti- 
ful as the Apollo of a northern clime, and that beautiful body 
the temple of a soul pure and unsoiled. Truly, a son for a 
mother to take to her arms with joy and pride." 

Wordsworth alludes to the young Milton in his Cambridge 
days thus : 

" His rosy cheeks 
Angelical, keen eye, courageous look. 
And conscious step of purity and pride." 



148 NOTES 

It is of no little significance, it seems to me, that the poet of 
serene and blessed moods, who a century and a half later was a 
student of Christ's College, Cambridge, should have had a 
similar experience at the same time in his life. At the age 
of twenty-three Wordsworth was urged to take orders, or to 
enter the law, by those who were anxious about his future 
Vx-orldly maintenance. For neither of these professions did he 
liave any natural taste. AVhile he was correcting and revising 
some of his early poems in order to demonstrate that he coidd 
do something, an event happened by which he was enabled to 
continue a life of plain living and high thinking with his 
noble sister — 

" She, in the midst of all, preserved me still 
A Poet, made me seek beneath that name, 
And that alone, my othce upon earth." 

The event was the death of his young friend and admirer, Raisley 
Calvert, who left him £900. 

Calvert ! it must not be unheard by them 

"Who may respect my name, that I to thee 

Owed many years of early liberty. 

This care was thine when sickness did condemn 

Thy youth to hopeless wasting, root and stem — 

That I, if frugal and severe, might stray 

Where'er I liked ; and finally array 

My temples with the Muse's diadem. 

Hence, if in freedom 1 have loved the truth ; 

If there be aught of pure, or good, or great, 

In my past verse ; or shall be, in the lays 

Of higher mood which now I meditate. 

It gladdens me, worthy, short-lived Youth ! 

To think how much of this will be thy praise. 

After Milton we see no more of the sonnet in its power until 
we come to Cowper ; following him is that illustrious company 
of singers contemporary with the French Revolution, — Words- 
worth, Coleridge, Shelley, Byron, and Keats, each of whom 



NOTES 149 

made substantial contributions to sonnet literature. Among 
these AVordsworth's work is by far the most significant, not 
only in the nature and variety of the subjects treated, but also 
in the manner of composition. He restored the sonnet to the 
l^lace it held in Milton's time. 

At a time when the spirit of revolution had penetrated all 
ranks of society and all forms of art, we find the chief of the 
revolutionary brotherhood asserting the principles of a true 
conservatism, —respect for that which was beautiful and useful 
in life and art. Wordsworth, who " saw with unerring instinct 
into the great moral forces which determine the currents of 
history," saw with the same instinct into the great moral forces 
which make for noble art. At a time when the new thought of 
man and nature was asserting itself and looking askance at 
everything old as unsuited to its nature, he taught a noble rev- 
erence for the old which had been consecrated by use at the 
hands of the masters. The most striking illustration of this 
element in Wordsworth's nature was his defence of a literary 
form which, although associated with the glory of Spenser, 
Shakespeare and Milton, was likely to suffer undeserved slight 
at the hands of the reformers. He accordingly wrote those 
two masterpieces of literary art in defence of the Sonnet: 

Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room ; 
And hermits are contented with their cells ; 
And students with their pensive citadels ; 
Maids at the wheel, the weaver at his loom, 
Sit blithe and happy ; bees that soar for bloom 
High as the highest Peak of Furness-fells, 
Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells : 
In truth the prison, unto which we doom 
Ourselves, no prison is : and hence for me, 
In sundry moods, 'twas pastime to be bound 
Within the Sonnet's scanty plot of ground ; 
Pleased if some Souls (for such there needs must be) 
Who have felt the weight of too much liberty. 
Should find brief solace there, as I have found. 



150 NOTES 

"Scorn not the Sonnet ; Critic, you have frowned, 
Mindless of its just honors ; with this key 
Shakspeare unlocked his heart ; the melody 
Of this small lute gave ease to Petrarch's wound ; 
A thousand times tliis i^ipe did Tasso sound ; 
With it Camoens soothed an exile's grief ; 
The Sonnet glittered a gay myrtle leaf 
Amid the cypress with which Dante crowned 
His visionary brow ; a glow-worm lamp. 
It cheered mild Spenser, called from Faery-land, 
To struggle through dark ways ; and, wlien a damp 
Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand 
The Thing became a trumpet ; whence he blew 
Soul-animating strains — alas, too few ! " 

Each of these sonnets runs the major part over into the first 
verse of the minor. 

The rhyme scheme of the first is abha, <ibba, cdd, ccd; while 
that of the second is abba, abba, cd, cd, ee. 

The birthday of the Wordsworthian sonnet was May 21, 1802. 
While his sister read to him some of Milton's sonnets his genius 
kindled and he at once composed three sonnets, the beginning 
of a series unsurpassed for practical wisdom, dignity and beauty 
of conception, grave and lofty harmony. 

1633-1645 

To THE NkJHTINGALE 

Milton took his degree of M. A. in 1(5;>2 but he did not return 
to the city of his birth. The sights and sounds with which he 
was now to be conversant were those of the beautiful English 
INIidlands. His father had retired to the rural village of Horton, 
seventeen miles from London, in that part of Buckinghamshire 
known as Chiltern Hundreds. " Here," says Milton, " I, with 
every advantage of leisure, spent a complete holiday in turning 
over the Greek and Latin writers ; not but that sometimes I 
exchanged the country for the town, either for the purpose of 



NOTES 151 

buying books, or for that of learning something new in Mathe- 
matics or in Music." Here this sonnet was probably written. 
It is pervaded with the atmosphere of thoughtful youth. It has 
the passion of Keats and the contemplation of Wordsworth. 

" Now came still Evening on, and Twilight gray 
Had in her sober livery all things clad ; 
Silence accompanied ; for beast and bird. 
They to their grassy couch, these to their nests 
Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale. 
She all night long her amorous descant sung." 

Paradise Lost, vi. 598-603. 

" From branch to branch the smaller birds with song 
Solaced the woods, and spread their painted wings. 
Till even ; nor then the solemn nightingale 
Ceased warbling, but all night tuned her soft lays." 

Paradise Lost, vii. 433-436. 

Cf. II Penseroso, 61-64. Comus, 234, 235 ; 566, 567. 

The following from Walton's Compleat Angler is worthy of a 
place here : 

" But the nightingale, another of my airy creatures, breathes 
such sweet loud music out of her little instrumental throat, that 
it might make mankind to think miracles are not ceased. He 
that at midnight, when the very laborer sleeps securely, should 
hear, as I have very often, the clear airs, the sweet descants, 
the natural rising and falling, the doubling and redoubling of 
her voice, might well be lifted above earth, and say. Lord, what 
music hast Thou provided for the saints in heaven, when Thou 
aft'ordest bad men such music on earth." 

The Skylark and the Nightingale are favorites with the poets ; 
the one symbolic of the song that " like a cloud of fire " spring- 
etli from the earth into the blue deep of the heavens ; the other, 
a type of the lover's passion : 

" A song in mockery and despite 
Of shades, and dews and silent night." 



152 NOTES 

Cf. Wordsworth : 

" O, Nightingale ! thou surely art 
A creature of a " fiery heart " : — 
These notes of thine — they pierce and pierce ; 
Tumultuous harmony and fierce ! " 

Cf. Coleridge : 

"And hark ! the Nightingale begins its song, 
' Most musical, most melancholy ' bird ! 
A melancholy bird ? Oh idle thought ! 
In nature there is nothing melancholy. 
But some night-wandering man whose heart was pierced 
With the remembrance of a grievous wrong, 
Or slow distemper, or neglected love, 
(And so, poor wretch ! filPd all things with himself. 
And made all gentle sounds tell back the tale 
Of his own sorrow) he, and such as he, 
First named these notes a melancholy strain." 

The Nightingale. 
Cf . Shelley : 

" One nightingale in an interfluous wood 
Satiate the hungry dark with melody." 

The Woodman and the Nightingale. 
Cf. Keats : 

' ' Thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees. 
In some melodious plot 
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, 
Singest of Summer in full-throated ease." 

Ode to a Nightingale. 
Cf . Tennyson : 

"And all about us peal'd the nightingale, 
Rapt in her song, and careless of the snare." 

The Princess, i. 217-218. 

Mrs. Anne Thackeray Ritchie says : "As Tennyson was 
walking at night in a friend's garden, he heard a nightingale 



NOTES 15B 

singing with such a frenzy of passion that it was unconscious of 
everything else, and not frightened though he came and stood 
quite close beside it ; he could see its eye flashing, and feel the 
air bubble in his ear through the vibration." 

3. Thou with fresh hope, etc. To hear the nightingale before 
the cuckoo was considered to "portend success in love." Cf. 
Chaucer, The Cuckoo and the Nightingale. 

4. jolly. Joyful. Cf. Faerie Queene, I. i. 1 : 

" Full jolly knight he seemed." 
9. bird of hate. Cuckoo. 

1633-1645 
L'Allegro 

The situation of Horton is beautiful for prospect. The eye 
ranges over dewy meadows, rich tillage land and green pasture, 
with abundant beech, elm, poplar and cedar ; numerous stream- 
lets hurry to lose themselves in the Colne, while the Thames, 
Eton and Windsor are not far away. The beautiful old church 
of the 12th century stands in the centre of the little village, and 
near it is the site of the poet's home. 

In this poetic springtime we fancy our Scholar Gipsy — such 
heart was in him — to be abroad in the primal burst of day's 
bloom ; as the lark sings at heaven's gate, he wanders wherever 
nature leads, drinking in with pure organic pleasure the beaute- 
ous forms and colors in earth and sky, while his ear catches the 
sounds of bellowing kine and bleating sheep, as the herd drives 
them afield, and the whistle of the plowboy and the song of the 
milkmaid is in the air. When the sun is shining high he seeks 
some retired spot where the laborer leaves 

" His coat, his basket and his earthen cruise." 

And as the troop of hunters jovial, talking, saunter by, he 
escapes to yonder lawn where young and old keep holiday with 
dance and song and hoodman blind. Thus through 

" All the live murmur of a summer's day " 



Y 



154 NOTES 

he is gathering 

" Spoiitaueous wisdiMu breathed by heahh, 
'Pruth breathed by cheerfuhiess." 

Such a day we have revealed to us in L'' Allegro, a (hiy of joyous 
mirth. 

The slow and stately introduction, the rushiuti-, joyous nuisic 
of the body of the poem, tlie vividness of picture, the playful 
humor and the master melody, re\'eal the best of Shakespeare and 
Spenser and yet they are not of either master, but truly Miltonic. 

The modern visitor at ilorton feels the atmosphere of that 
olden time. 

"Here cam'st thou in thy jocund youthful time, 
Here was thine height of strength, thy golden prime ! 
And still the haunt beloved a virtue yields." 

1-3. Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born, etc. This fig- 
ure is partly classical, and partly the creation of later poets. In 
classical niytliology Nyx, or Night, is made the mother of Thana- 
tos, or Death, Ilypuos, or Sleep, and other children. Spenser, in 
Tears of the Miises, included Ignorance among the children. 

" Ignorance, 
Born in the bosom of the black Abysse, 
And fed with Furies milk for sustenance 
Of his weake infancie, begot ainisse 
By yawning Sloth on his own mother Night." 

In the old mythology Darkness son of Chaos is husband of 
Night. Ill Milton's lurid picture of Ilell-Gate and the region 
beyond, Paradise Lost, book ii., we have : 

" Where eldest Night 
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold 
Eternal anarchy," etc. — (894-80(5.) 

" behold the throne 
Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread 
Wide in the wasteful Deep. Witli hiui enthroned 
Sat sable-vested Night:' — (050-9(32.) 



NOTES 155 

r>. Stygian. Cf. Paradise Lost, ii. r)74-r)77 : 

" Aloiis; the banks 
Oi. four inl'cnial rivers, that disi^orge 
Into the burning lake their baleful streams — 
Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate." 

(i. jealous wings. "Tlie watch which fowls keep when 
tiiey arc sittiui;." — WAinuiuTON. 

7. the night-raven sings. The bird of ill-onieu. Cf. il/ac- 
beth, i. 5, 

"The raven himself is lioarse 
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan 
Under my battlements." 

8, i). As ragged as thy locks. The term rapjf^ed applied to 
rocks is conunon in Shakespeare. 

" ragged prison walls." — Jiichard IF. v. 5. 

" on the ragged stones break forth." — "rUus Andronicns^ v. J}. 

10. dark Cimmerian desert. In the Odi/sseij, xi., 14, the 
CMnnnerians are dwellers "beyond the ocean" in jjerpetual 
darkness. 

"There lies the land, and there the people dwell 
Of the Cimmerians, in eternal cloud 
And darkness." 

12. yclept. The old past particii)le of verb clcpen, to call. 

" They clepe us drunkards." — Hamlet, i. 4. 

Euphrosyne. Mirth, one of the Graces. 
14-23. Whom lovely Venus, etc. Milton creates these 
figures. In the old mythology Euphrosyne is daughter of Zeus. 
22. fresh-blown roses, etc. 

"Morning roses newly washed with dew." 

Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1. 
24. debonair. l)e bonne air. 

25-u2. Haste thee. Nymph, etc. An allusion to the merry- 



hu) yoii:s 

makinji' of Kli/.nbctlian l-'.imlaiul. Cf. Won ,Ton>^on's inastiue, 
I\i)i\^ Amu'vcrsari/. 

Xym. "Thus, thus bouin iho yraily rili>s 

Ari' iluo (o Tan on those bi'iulit ni.uhts ; 
His morn now risoth and hwitos 
To sports, to ihuu'os, and doHuhts : 
All onvious and |>rot'aiu\ away. 
This is tho shophords' holvday." 

1*7. Quips and Cranks. Smart anil odd sayings. 
oo, M. Come, aud trip it, vie. 

'• lM't\n-o ytMi can say • (.^nno * anil • (.u\' 
.Vnd broaiho twioo, and say 'so, so.' 
Kaoh ono trippiui;' on his too 
Will bo hero with mop and mow." — 'I\)))p(,<t, i. I. 

40. unreproved. Not to bo found fault with, innoront. 

41. To hear the lark, oic. C'omparo this and tho following 
linos in rospoot of diroot anil musical dosoriptiou with Tonuy 
son's ()(/(• to Mvmori/. 

'*Tho seven idms, the pv>plars ftntr. 
That stand beside my father's door," ete. 

Cf. Cinulu'liiw. ii. "J. 

" Hark, hark ! the lark at Heaven's gate sings, 

And riuvbus 'gins arise. 
His steeils to water at those springs 

On ehalieed tlowers that lies ; 
And winking Mary-buds begin 

To ope their golden eyes." 

44. dappled dawn. 

"ami look the gentle day. 

Before the wlu^els of riuvbns round about 
Dapples the drowsy east with spots of gray." 

Much Ailo About XotJiiiKj, v. ;>. 
50. eastern gate. 

"Even till the Eastern gate, all tiery-red." 

Midsuiu ))}<)' .V/(;/<r.s' D)'(a»i, iii. *2. 



NOTKS 157 

02. dight. Scl, ill order, arrayed. 

(57. tells his tale. Warton hu^'^^csI.s iIkiI Uiis uwmwh " makes 
hJH reckoiiiii^," eomits his hIkm'P, nitlicr tli;iii Mm; eommonly 
understood, Uills his stoi-y. Tiiis sciciiis phiiisible from the fact 
that the moriiiii;^ was not tiie time for story-tctlliiif^. 

00, Straight. y\t once, sudthiiily. (.'(Miimon in Shakespeare. 

" Abont your businesH straij^ht." — Jiich'/rd III. i. 2. 
" Straight to stop th(M-innonr." — llctinj VIII. ii. 1. 
" W(;'ll h;ive a spe(!(th strai;,dit." — llamlH, ii. 2. 

70. landskip. Old form. Cf. 'I'ennyson, Merlin and the 

(I learn. 

"'I'he, landskip darken'd." 

70. daisies pied. 

'' When daisies pied and vioh;ts biut; 
And lady-smoeks all silver-whiU;," etc. 

LovcH Ldhoiirs L(fst, v. 2. 

77-80. Towers and battlements. Whih; the d(;script ions are 
not tru(! to llorlon in ev(uy d(!tail it is not unnatural that we 
should understand this tf) he, an allusion to Windsor (JjistU;. 

8.'{-HH. Corydon and Thyrsis . . . Phillis . . . Thestylis. 
Fainili;ii' names for sh(!i)li(!rds. 

01. secure. IJntioubled. 

04. rebecks. Stringed instrument lik*- a fiddle. 
!)t;. chequered shade. 

''The ^n'e(!n leav«;s (piiver with the cooiinj^ wind 
And mak(! a cluMpjered shadow on tin; <<round." 

'rUus AndroiiiniH., ii, .'}. 
OH. sunshine holiday, 

" Many y(!ars of sunshine d;iys." - liirli<ird II. iv. 1. 

100. spicy, nut-brown ale. Wassail bowl of sweet, warm, 
Hpiced ale with roastx^d crab-apples in it. 
102. How Faery Mab the junkets eat. 

" She is t,he fairy midwife, and she comes 
In shape nf) bigger than an agate-.stone 



158 NOTES 

Oil the ioieliiiger of an aldurinaii, 
Drawn with a team of little atomies," etc. 

Bomro and Jnliet^ i. 4. 

" This is Mab, the mistress Fairy, 
Thai, (loth iiii;iitly rob the dairy, 
She that pinches country wenches." 

Ben Jonson, The Sat{/7\ 
junkets. Cream clieese. 

lO;'., 101. She . . . And he. The two shepherds who are tell- 
iiiu; the story. 

104. Friar's lantern. Jacl<-o'-the-Laiitern, Will-o'-the-Wisp. 

105. drudging goblin. Kohin (Joodfeliow, a favorite with 
liH/.abethan stovy-lellcrs. 

The fairy speiikiiii; to Tuck says: 

" Either 1 mistake your shape and making (|uite. 
Or else you are tliat shrewd and knavish sprite 
CallM Kohin (loodfellow ; are yon not lie 
Tliat frights the maidiMis of the villagery : " etc. 

Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1. 

110. the lubber fiend. The fairy in Midsummer Nighfs 
Dream, ii. 1, addresses Puck as "thou lob of spirits." 

117. Tow^ered cities please us then. The youth now retires 
to his country cottage and amuses himself with stories of a life 
quite in contrast to that of the rustics w^ith whom he has been 
associating. 

120. weeds . . . triumphs. The old meaning of weeds, 
clothing. Triumphs, one of the forms of entertainment where 
are tournaments, etc. 

^'y\ Rain influence. (T". Ode on (he Nativittj, 71. 

12;"). let Hymen oft appear. As in Masques in honor of 
marriage. Cf. Hen. .lonson's Hi/mena'i. 

120. In saffron robe. In Hen Jonson's Ilijmenm we have : 

" Entered Hymen the God of Marriage in a saffron-coloured 
robe." 

l.']2-i:U. If Jonson's learned sock be on, etc. Sock was a 
lowdieeled shoe worn in comedy. 



v^ 



NOTES 159 

" I visit, or to smile, or weep, 
The winding theatre's majestic sweep, 
The grave or gay collo(iuial scene recruits 
My spirits, spent in learning's long pursuits." 

Elegy i. 

" If poets may be divided into two exhaustive but not exclu- 
sive classes — the gods of harmony and creation, the giants of 
energy and invention — the supremacy of Shakespeare among 
the gods of English verse is not more unquestionable than the 
supremacy of Jonson among the giants." — A. C. Swinhuune. 

13(5. Lydian airs. Soft and light as compared wilh the 
Dorian, which are more suited to revealing contemplation. 

1:39. bout. Turn. 

145-150. That Orpheus' self, etc. According to the myth 
which reveals Orpheus as the master nmsician who, on the 
death of his wife Eurydice, went to the lower world to recover 
her. His music charmed even Pluto, who released Eurydice 
on the condition that Orphens would not look upon her until 
they had reached the earth. Orpheus turned to see if she were 
following him and she was lost to him. 

151, 152. These lines remind one of the last lines of Mar- 
lowe's The Passionate Shepherd to his Love : 

" If these delights thy mind may move, 
Then live with me and be my love." 

1633-1645 

II Penskuoso ^ 

When the merry-making was over, and the sun, 

'^ which doth glorify 
The orange and pale violet evening sky," 

sank to rest, and the ' mellow lin-lan-lone of evening bells ' ceased, 

" No chair remained before the door ; the bench 
And threshold steps were empty; fast asleep 
The laborer, and the old man who had sate 
A later lingerer." 



160 NOTES 

The new day now begins, the day which is characterized by wise 
activity, as the other had been by wise passiveness ; for nature 
and books are the joys of the poet, and by these a healthy 
activity is secured between What Does, What Knows, What Is. 
The mood here is that of joy in thoughtfuhiess, when the world 
is shut out and the mind shut in upon itself. Each experience 
here has its complement in those of the previous poem ; and as 
a result the movement is slow and measured where the other 
was rapid and careless. One hardly knows where to look for a 
happier union of natural magic and moral profundity, of child- 
like mirth aiid the joy of mature manhood. 

The treatment of nature in these poems is not that of Chaucer 
with its freshness of the early world, nor that of Wordsworth 
with its spiritual revelation ; but it is pure description of things 
seen by the poet in a special mood. 

M. Scherer says: "For rendering things Milton has the 
unique word, — the word which is a discovery : he has not only 
the image and the word, he has the period also, the large musical 
phrase . . . an unfailing level of style, power indomitable." 

These are the elements which make the poems a delight to 
young and old alike. 

Mr. Henry Van Dyke says : " I do not think that U Allegro^ 
II Fenseroso, and Comiis have any lower place in the world, or 
any less enduring life, than Paradise Lost. We have thought 
so much of Milton's strength and sublimity that we have ceased 
to recognize what is also true, that he, of all English poets, is 
by nature the supreme lover of beauty." 

'' Never were ideas of such dignity embodied in verse so easy 
and familiar, and with such apparent absence of effort." 

R. Gaknett. 

Mr. F. T. Palgrave says : " L'' Allegro and II Penseroso., the 
earliest great lyrics of the landscape in our language, despite 
all later competition, still remain supreme for range, variety, 
lucidity and melodious charm Avithin their style." 

1-30. Hence, vain deluding Joys, etc. These lines should be 
compared in detail with the first twenty-four of V Allegro. 
We must remember that these are complementary moods, but 



NOTES 161 

not contrary, — not inconsistent with the nature of a true man. 
It is usually assumed that Milton is the Milton of II Penseroso 
and Paradise Lost^ but a careful study of the shorter poems 
will reveal how wholesome and holy was the nature of the 
young poet. Cf. Masson, Miltoii's YoiUh. 
3. bested. Stand by, satisfy. 

" I never saw a fellow worse bestead 
Or more afraid to tight." 

2 Henry VI. ii. 3. 
7-10. And fancies fond, etc. 

" Confusedly about the silent bed 
Fantastick swarms of dreams were hovered, 

Som sacred, som profane, som false, som true. 

They make no noise, but right resemble may 
Th'unnumbered moats which in the sun do play." 

Sylvester's Du Bartas (The Vacation). 

6. fond. In old sense of foolish. 

10. pensioners. Living upon the bounty of others, retinue. 
Possibly alluding to the famous body-guard of Elizabeth. 

" And I serve the Fairy Queen, 
To dew her orbs upon the green. 
The cowslips tall her pensioners be." 

3Iidsummer Nighfs Dream, ii. 1. 

12. Divinest Melancholy. We must keep to the Miltonic 
idea here : Though tfulness. 
14. To hit the sense. 

" Delicate odour as ever hit my nostril." — Pericles^ iii. 2. 

" From the barge 
A strange invisible perfume hits the sense 
Of the adjacent wharves." 

Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 2. 

18. Prince Memnon's sister. Memnon was the beautiful 

M 



162 NOTES 

prince of the Ethiopians who came to help Priam. Milton 
makes the sister as beautiful. Homer alludes to Eurypylus as, 

" The noblest 
Of men, in form, whom I have ever seen, 
Save Memnon." — Odi/ssey, xi. 

19-21. that starred Ethiop, etc. Cassiope challenged the 
Nereids in a contest for beauty. They in anger induced 
Poseidon to send a ravenous monster into her country. An- 
dromeda her daughter was about to be sacriticed to the monster 
when she was rescued by her lover Perseus. Cassiope was 
raised to heaven and turned into the constellation Cassiopoeia. 

2o-80. bright-haired Vesta, etc. Milton here creates the 
genealogy of Melancholy as he has done for Mirth in the pre- 
vious poem. The emphasis upon the word solitary would seem 
to reveal the fact that Milton desired to reveal that Melancholy 
was the daughter of Solitude and the Vestal-affection or Do- 
mestic happiness. 

33. grain. Color. 

35. stole. Scarf. 

cypress lawn. In early editions Milton printed this with a 
capital, indicating that the lawn was from Cyprus. In Winter''s 
Tale Autolycus sings of his wares : 

"Lawn as white as driven snow, 
Cyprus black as e'er was crow." 

39. commercing. Communing. 

42. Forget thyself to marble. Cf. On Shakespeare, 11 and 
note. 

43. leaden. The star Saturn has a leaden or dispiriting in- 
fluence on shepherds, or sons of the Muses. Cf. Epitaphium 
Damonis, 79, 80, and translation. (M.) 

46. Spare Fast. Cf. Sonnet To 3Ir. Lawrence. 

51-51. But first and chiefest, etc. Cf. Ezekiel x. Milton 
names one of the four cherubs of EzekiePs vision, Contempla- 
tion. By Contemplation one reached the heights of vision. 
(M.) 



NOTES 163 

55,56. hist along. . . . 'Less Philomel, etc. Telling the Silence 
to continue unless the Niglitingale shall choose to break it. (M.) 

''Thou veiled in opening foliage, lead'st the throng 
Of feathered minstrels, Philomel ! in song." 

Elegy v. 

59, 00. While Cynthia, etc. While the moon, entranced 
with the song, is seen to check her pace over a particular oak- 
tree. (M.) Milton has transferred the idea, " Dragon yoke," 
drawn by dragons, from the old Mythology of l^emeter. The 
accustomed oak, seems to imply some particular oak in which 
the poet had seen the moon couched. 

61-64. Sweet bird, etc. Massou cites : 

" And yet, methinks in a thick thorn I hear 
A nightingale to warble sweetly clear." 

Sylvester's Du Bartas (First Week). 

Cf. sonnet To the Mf/htinyale, and note. 
73-76. Oft, on a plat of rising ground, etc. The figure in the 
first couplet might have direct application to Horton, but that 
in the second could not ; but we need not make literal identifica- 
tion of every allusion in a poem so rich in imagination. Masson 
says: "The sound of the eight o'clock bell from Christ Church 
is still one of the characteristics of Oxford, and is heard afar." 
77. air. Weather. 

83, 84. the bellman's drowsy charm, etc. Charm, cry. The 
bellman was policeman and fireman in one, and at times shouted 
the state of the weather, as, " Half-past nine and a fine cloudy 
evening"; or he blessed the sleepers, as in Herrick's The 
Bellman : 

"From noise and scare-fires rest ye free, 
From murder, Benedicite ! 
From all mischances that may fright 
Your pleasing slumbers in the night." (M.) 

85, 86. Or let my lamp, etc. A beautiful figure of Contem- 
plation. Milton believed in the necessity of shade in which to 
grow ripe, and leisure in which to grow wise. He writes to 



164 NOTES 

Diodati : "I am letting my wings grow, and preparing to fly, 
but my Pegasus has not yet feathers enough to soar aloft in the 
fields of air." 

" When Contemplation, like the night-calm felt 
Through earth and sky, spreads widely, and sends deep 
Into the soul its tranquilizing power. ' ' 

Wordsworth, Prelude, v. 

87. outwatch the Bear. Studying until the stars are put to 
flight. 

88. thrice great Hermes. Hermes Trismegistus, a Greek ap- 
pellation given to the Egyptian philosopher Thot. 

88, 89. unsphere the spirit of Plato. Return Plato to the 
earth by understanding his works. 

91, 92. The immortal mind, etc. An allusion to the Fhcedo, 
where the doctrine of immortality is discussed. 

93-96. And of those demons, etc. The Mediaeval doctrine of 
the four elements. Earth, Air, Fire and Water. 

97-100. let gorgeous Tragedy, etc. With Platonic Philoso- 
phy and Mediaeval Alchemy we have the great truths of the 
Classic drama. 

101, 102. of later age, etc. Shakespeare. Cf. L^ Allegro, 
131-134. 

104-108. Might raise Musaeus. Recover the equally great 
works which are lost. Cf. L'' Allegro, 145-150. 

109-115. Or call up him, etc. Chaucer, whose Sqiiire''s Tale 
is unfinished. 

" At Sarra, in the loud of Tartaric, 
Ther dwelt a king that werreied Russie, 
Thurgh which ther died many a doughty man : 
This noble king was cleped Cambuscan." 

Cf. Tennyson : 

" Dan Chaucer, the first warbler, whose sweet breath 
Preluded those melodious bursts that fill 
The spacious times of great Elizabeth 
With sounds that echo still." 



NOTES 165 

In the Palace of Art Tennyson has portraits hung above the 
throne of Contemplation : 

" For there was Milton like a seraph strong, 
Beside him Shakespeare bland and mild ; 
And there the world-worn Dante grasped his song 
And somewhat grimly smiled." 

116-120. great bards, etc. Spenser and the Faerie Queene. 

" Descend, prophetic Spirit ! that inspir'st 
The human Soul of universal Earth 
Dreaming on things to come ; and dost possess 
A metropolitan temple in the hearts of mighty poets." 
AVoRDswoRTH, ExcursioH, Introduction. 

122. civil-suited. Plainly attired, not in court costume. 
124. Attic boy. Cephalus, who was in love with Eos, 
Mornins;. 

V 

134. Sylvan. Sylvanus, god of the woodlands. 

135. monumental. Old. 
142. honeyed thigh. 

" Each bee with honey laden to the thigh." —Drayton, Owl. 

146. dewy-feathered. "Feathers steeped in Lethean dew " 
(K.)^ 

147-150. And let some strange, etc. Let some strange 
mysterious dream move to and fro at Sleep's wings, in airy 
stream. (M.) 

156-166. To walk, etc. This should be read with At a 
Solemn Music. Milton is in admiration of the symbols of 
spiritual contemplation. Here is nothing of the Puritan. 

158. massy-proof. The idea here is not quite clear. It may 
mean, sufficient to sustain the mass of roof, etc. Cf . Words- 
worth, Sonnets, Inside Kimfs College Chapel. 

159. storied. Illustrating Scripture story in stained glass. 
167-176. And may at last my weary age, etc. 

" blest seclusion ! when the mind admits 
The law of duty ; and can therefore move 



166 NOTES 

Through each vicissitude of loss or gain 
Link'd in entire complacence with her choice ; 
When youth's presumptuousness is mellow'd down, 
And manhood's vain anxietj^ dismissed ; 
When wisdom shows her seasonable fruit, 
Upon the boughs of sheltering leisure hung." 

Wordsworth, Excursion^ iv. 

" If age had tamed the passions' strife, 
And fate had cut my ties of life, 
Here, have I thought, 'twere sweet to dwell, 
And rear again the chaplain's cell, 
Like that same peaceful hermitage, 
Where Milton long'd to spend his age." 

Scott, 3Iarmio7i, Introduction to Canto ii. 

Mr. F. T. Palgrave, alluding to Keats' poem Fancy, says ; 
" I know no other poem which so closely rivals the richness 
and melody, — and that in this very difficult and rarely at- 
tempted metre, — of Milton's Allegro and Penseroso.'''' 

1634-1645 

Arcades 

(In Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 

The history of the Masque, its form and function in English 
literature, is varied and interesting. The men we most natu- 
rally associate with the Masque are, that incomparable Master of 
Revels Ben Jonson — its inventor, Inigo Jones its scene painter, 
and Henry Lawes the composer of its music. Early in the reign 
of Elizabeth, when the Miracle Plays and Mysteries were evolv- 
ing into the Pageant and the drama of Shakespeare, there was 
also evolved a ceremonial in which actors represented allegorical 
characters and accompanied Lords and Ladies on great occa- 
sions for the purpose of lending interest by action, dialogue, 
music and dance. In the reigns of James I and Charles I these 
entertainments were frequent and magnificently apportioned. 
Artists, musicians, poets and managers were commissioned to 



NOTES 167 

prepare the pageant for a marriage, a birthday, a royal visitor, 
or the reception of distinguished foreigners, and the pastoral 
or idyl of Spenser appeared as a pastoral drama or masque. 
Jonson created no less than thirty masques between 1600 and 
1635. 

The Masque has its own laws as clearly defined as those 
of the drama itself. As in the Greek drama the central idea — 
the occasion — was familiar to the average spectator, so here 
the occasion with all its attendant incidents must be a familiar 
one. The poetry, music and decorations must be used to in- 
tensify this occasion. The result is, as Taine says: "A true 
eye feast, like a procession of Titian." 

In 1632 Puritanism gave a new impetus to such pageants by 
the publication of the famous Histrio-Mastix : The Player' s- 
Scourge, in which the stage and all its associations were de- 
nounced as " the very pomp of the Divell." The result was a 
singular demonstration on the part of the lovers of good cheer, 
and the most gorgeous of all the royal masques was prepared by 
the Society of the Four Inns of Court, and presented in the 
Banqueting House at Whitehall, February, 1634. The masque 
was entitled The Triumph of Peace. In this masque, costing 
£21,000, Mr. Henry Lawes acted as master of nmsic. We have 
already seen that while Milton was at Horton he was studying 
music in London ; now this Mr. Lawes was his teacher, and it is 
probable that Milton took no little interest in this distinguished 
performance. Soon after this, another masque, Coehim Britan- 
nicum, was given at the same place. Lawes arranged the music, 
and Inigo Jones had charge of the decorations. In it two sons 
of the Earl of Bridgew^ater acted, and it is through them that 
Lawes and Milton became associated in Arcades. 

In Spenser's Colin Cloiifs Come Home Again, we have the 
following : 

" Ne less praiseworthie are the sisters three, 
The honor of tlie noble familie 
Of which I meanest boast myself to be 
And most that unto them I am so nie 
Phyllis, Charillis and Sweet Amaryllis." 



168 NOTES 

These sisters are the three married daughters of Sir John 
Spencer. In Klizaheth's time the poet, then young, had dedi- 
cated to each, one of his early poems, 3Iuiopotmos, Mother 
Iluhhanrs Tale, and The Teares of the Muses. The "sweet 
Amaryllis" was Alice, who married Ferdinando, Lord Strange. 
In the dedication of his Teares of the Muses Spenser says : " The 
things that make ye so nuich honoured are your excellent beauty, 
your virtuous behavior and your noble match with the very 
pattern of right nobility." 

Lord Strange was a patron of literature and somewhat of a 
poet. He succeeded to the earldom of Derby, and on his death 
in 1594 his wife became known as Countess-Dowager of Derby. 
Spenser thus alludes to his death : 

" Amyntas quite has gone, and lies full hnv, 
Having his Amaryllis left to mone. 
Helpe, O ye shepheards, helpe ye all in this, 
Helpe Amaryllis this her losse to mourne ; 
Her losse is yours, your losse Amyntas is, 
Amyntas, lloure of shepheards pride forlorne : 
He whilest he lived was the noblest swaine, 
That ever piped on an oaten quill." 

Colin CIoiWs Come Home Again. 

In IfiOO she married Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper of the 
Great Seal to Elizabeth. They purchased the beautiful estate 
of Harelield in Middlesex on the river Colne. In 1002 the 
Queen paid them a visit of four days, when masques of various 
kinds were given in her honor, and Buvbiilgv''s players acted 
for the first time Shakespeare's Othello. Masson says, " Shake- 
speare himself probably present and taking part." The avenue 
of elms where the pageant met the Queen was afterwards known 
as the "Queen's Walk." 

In the reign of James I Sir Thomas was made Lord Chan- 
cellor, and Lord and Lady Egerton were even more closely 
identified with literature. Warton says: "The peerage book 
of the Countess is the poetry of her times." In 1017 his Lord- 
ship died. The Countess remained at llarefield and gave her- 



NOTES 169 

self to deeds of charity and hospitality. The Countess' first 
husband had been nianied twice prior to his marriage to her, 
and her second husband had been married once before ; their 
children had intermarried, and at the date of this masque she 
(at seventy) had numerous children and grandchildren. It was 
they who planned this entertainment in memory of the many 
which the venerable lady had witnessed. The two sons of the 
Karl of Hridgewater already mentioned as taking part in Ccelum 
IMtannicum, now the Countess' step-sons, were pupils of Lawes, 
and it was therefore natural that they should want him to take 
charge of the music ; it was also natural that he should ask 
Milton to furnish the text, — speeches and songs being a part of 
the extensive pageant, Arrades. 

4. mistook. Milton is fond of those old forms. Cf. Nativity, 
20 ; Comns, 558. 

8-13. Fame that . . . erst, etc. An allusion to the tributes 
to the Countess by Spenser and those who had written masques 
in her honor. 

14-19. Mark what radiant state, etc. An allusion to the 
actual surroundings of the Countess in the masque. (M.) 

20. Latona. The mother of Apollo and Diana. 

21. the towered Cybele. Cybele, the wife of Saturn and 
"the mother of the gods," wore a diadem of three, tov^^ers. 
Cf. uEneid, vi. 784-786 : 

"The Berycinthian mother rides tower-crowned through the 
towns of I'hrygia, proud of the gods that have sprung from her." 
Cf, Faerie Queene, IV. xi. 28 : 

" Old Cybele, array d with pompous pride, 
Wearing a Diademe embattild wide 
With hundred turrets," etc. 

23. Juno dares not give her odds. Could not afford to give 
her any advantage in a contest for beauty. Masson gives an 
interesting interpretation of this passage. He says it should 
be read with the picture of the venerable lady before us as 
she appeared on that evening of the masque, throned, and sur- 
rounded by two generations of her descendants. " Does it not 



170 NOTES 

then mean, even now, the handsomest of her daughters must do 
her best to keep up with her ? " 

26. gentle. Of gentle blood. Masson assumes that Lawes 
took the part of (^lenius of the Wood. 

27. honour. Nobility of birth. 

J50, 81. Divine Alpheus, etc. Alpheus was the name of a 
river in Arcadia which ran underground for some distance. 
The legend was that Alpheus, a young hunter, was in love with 
a nymph Arethusa, and when she fled from him to Ortygia in 
Sicily, he was turned into a river and followed her under the 
sea, rising again in Ortygia where the waters blended with those 
of a fountain called after her, Arethusa. Cf. Lycldas, 85, 132, 
and yEneid, iii. 004-()0() : 

"Alpheus the river of Elis made himself a secret passage 
under the sea ; and he now, through thy mouth, Arethusa, 
blends with the waters of Sicily." 

33. silver-buskined Nymphs. The ladies of the masque 
wearing buskins, as did Diana and her nymphs. Cf. uEneid, 
i. 330, 337 : 

" Tyrian maidens like me are wont to carry the ipiivcr and 
tie the purple buskin high up the calf." 

34. free, noble or generous. 

46. curl. Drayton, in his PolyoUnon, alluding to a grove 
says, " Where she her curled liead unto the eye may 
show." 

47. wanton windings wove. Cf. Faerie Queene, I. ii. 13, for 
alliteration : 

*' Whose bridle rung with golden bels and bosses brave." (M.) 

51. thwarting. Athwart or zigzag. (M.) 

52. cross dire-looking planet. Alluding to the malignant 
influence of planets. Cf. llamlet, i. 1 : 

" Then no planets strike," etc. 

53. hurtful worm. Cf. Li/chlas, 46. 

57. tasselled horn. Cf. Faerie Qneene, I. viii. 3: 



NOTES 171 

"Then tooke that Squire an home of bugle small, 
Which hong adowne his side in twisted gold 
And tasselles gay." 

60. murmurs. Charms. Cf. Comus, 526. 

63-73. the celestial Sirens' harmony, etc. Milton's idea of 
the music of the spheres is that each of the nine spheres is 
presided over by a Muse. As the spheres revolve, the Muses 
sing in harmony, while the Fates are turning the spindle of 
Necessity (adamantine) on which the threads of human and 
divine lives are wound. Cf. Plato, Bepublic, x. Chap. 14. 

70. unsteady Nature. Such Nature seemed until the law- of 
the whole was understood. 

72, 73. which none can hear, etc. Cf. Merchant of Venice, 
V. 1: 

" But whilst this muddy vesture of decay 
Doth grossly close us in, we cannot hear it." 

Cf. Tennyson, Hicjher Pantheism: 

" And the ear of man cannot hear, and the eye of man cannot 
see ; 
But if we could see and hear, this Vision — were it not He ? " 

81. state. Throne. 

88, 89. shady roof, etc. Cf. Faerie Qiieene, I. i. 7 : 

"Whose loftie trees, yclad Avitli sommer's pride, 
Did spred so broad, that heaven's light did hide. 
Not perceable with power of any starr." 

97-100. Ladon's, etc. Ladon was a river in Arcadia. Lycceiis, 
Cyllene and 3Icenaliis, mountains of Arcadia. Syrinx, a nymph 
who, being pursued by Pan, was changed into a reed of which 
Pan made his pipe. 

Masson thinks the allusion here is to the masque of Ben Jon- 
son's, which the Countess may have seen many years before at 
her home, Althorpe. 

" And the dame hath Syrinx' grace ; 
O that Pan were now in place." 



172 NOTES 

Textual 

The more important readings in tlie Cambridge Mss. are as 
follows : 

1, 2. Milton originally used a different metre : 

'• Look, Nymphs and Shepherds, look ! here ends our quest. 
Since at last our eyes are blest." 

These lines were dashed out with a cross line to begin as now. 
10-14. These four lines were : 

"Now seems guilty of abuse 
And detraction from her praise : 
Less than half she hath expressed ; 
Envy bid her hide the rest." 

" Her hide " is erased and " conceal " written over it. 
18. Sitting, was "seated." 

23. Juno. This was erased and "Ceres" substituted, and 
again "Ceres" erased and "Juno " restored. 

24. had, was "would have." 

41 . What shallow-searching, was ' ' Those virtues which dull. ' ' 

44. am, was "have." 

47. AVith, was "Li." 

49. and, was "or." 

50. boughs, was " leaves." 
52. Or, was "that." 

59. This line was, " And number all my ranks and every 
sprout." 

62. locked up mortal sense, was " chained mortality." 
81. ye, was "you." 
91. you, was "ye." 

1634-1637-1645 

COMUS 

(Two copies, one, Lawes' stage-copy ; and the other in Milton's 
own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 

Green says : " The historic interest of Milton's Comns lies in 
its forming part of a protest made by the more cultured Puritans 



NOTES 173 

at this time against the gloomier bigotry which persecution was 
fostering in the party at large." 

In respect of the time, nature of the occasion, and the charac- 
ters involved, Comus and Arcades are closely connected. Sir 
John Egerton, first Earl of Bridgewater, was the son of the 
Countess-Dowager's second husband, Sir Thomas Egerton, by a 
previous marriage ; he married Frances, daughter of the Countess 
by her first husband. Lord Strange. Their children were the 
two sons who acted in the masque Ccelum Britannicnm, and 
who were concerned in the previous masque Ai'cades ; two mar- 
ried daughters, and the beautiful Lady Alice, unmarried. Sir 
John was appointed Lord President of the Council in the prin- 
cipality of Wales in June, 163L The official seat was at Ludlow 
Castle in Shropshire, built by the descendants of the Conqueror. 
The site of the castle, on the rocky heights above the green valley 
where two rivers meet, is beautiful and commands a magnificent 
outlook over the surrounding country. Its associations are those 
of the old wars of AVelsh and Norman, the Wars of the Roses, 
and the history of the Prince of Wales. 

" Child of loud-throated War ! the mountain stream 
Roars in thy hearing ; but thy hour of rest 
Is come, and thou art silent in thy age." 

The Earl did not assume the duties of office until 1634. The 
festivities of inauguration were enlivened by the performance of 
a masque in the great hall of the castle by members of the Earl's 
family, in the presence of a distinguished assembly of guests, on 
Michaelmas Night, September 29. 

The association of the two young rons of the Earl with Lawes 
in the Coelum Britannicum, and with Lawes and Milton in ^r- 
cades, is sufficient to account for their respective parts in this 
distinguished pageant. Lady Alice took the part of The Lady, 
tlie two brothers the parts of first and second Brother respec- 
tively, and Lawes himself that of the Attendant Spirit. 

The name Comus was not applied to the masque during Mil- 
ton's life. In the Cambridge Ms. it is — "A Masque Presented 
at Ludlow Castle, 1634, before the Earl of Bridgewater, Lord 



174 NOTES 

Presidei\t of Wales." In the Bridgewater Ms., which probably 
Lawes used as a stage-copy, the masque begins with a song of 
twenty lines, "which in Milton's arrangement occupies lines 976- 
999 ; he made it a song of arrival by changing To the Ocean 
into From the heavens, and ]\liere young Adonis oft reposes 
into Where a cherub soft I'eposes. It is evident from this that 
Lawes thought it would be more effective for the Attendant 
Spirit to descend into the wood with a song than with a speech. 
On his departure he sang the song as it is now in the epilogue. 

We can never know whether or not Milton was present at 
this si>lendid performance, but we know that if he were it was 
not as the known author of the masque, for the authorship was 
a secret known only to Lawes and the Earl's family. Bat the 
author of such a success could not long be concealed. Inquiries 
were made in regard to the production ; copies of the songs 
were asked for, and then of the entire masque. At last in 1637 
Lawes published it with this title-page : 

" A Maske presented at Ludlow Castle 1034, on Michaelmas 
Night, before the Right Honourable John, Earl of Bridgewater, 
A^iscount Brackley, Lord President of Wales, and one of His 
Majesties' JNIost honourable Privy Counsell. 

" '■ Eheu quid rolui misero mihi ! floribiis Austruni Perditus.'' 

"London: Printed for Humphrey Robinson, at the signe of 
the Three Pidgeons in Paul's Churchyard, 1037." 

Masson thinks that the Latin motto on the title-page was sup- 
plied by Milton, and that in it he expressed a fear that he may 
have been foolish in letting the masque be published. 

The volume was dedicated to the Earl's son, young Viscount 
Brackley, who took the part of First Brother (cf . p. 52). The music 
which Lawes composed for the songs in Comus exists in the !Mss. 
of the British Museum, written in his own hand, with the heading : 

" Five Sojigs set for a Mask presented at Ludlo Castle be- 
fore the Earl of Bridgewater, Lord President of the Marches: 
October 1634." 

Cf. sonnet, To Mr. II. Lawes on his Airs. 

Milton first published the masque in the edition of 1645, with 
this title-page : A Masque of the Same Author, presented at 



NOTES 175 

Ludhno Castle, 1634, before the Earl of Bridgewater, then 
President of Wales: Anno Dmn., 1G45. Lawes' dedication and 
the letter from Sir Henry Wotton were included (cf. p. 49). 

Those who show ' ' how to make careful literal identification 
of stories somewhere told ill and without art, with the same 
stories told over a|5;ain by the masters, well and with the trans- 
figuring effect of genius," tell us that this most original poen\ 
of its kind in English literature, owes much to Peele's Old 
Wives'' Tale, Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess, Ben Jonson's 
Pleasure Beconciled to Virtue, and Hendrik van der Puttens' 
Latin extravaganza Camus. What Tennyson said of this class 
of critics is to the point : 

" There is, I fear, a prosaic set growing up among us, editors 
of booklets, book-worms, index-hunters, or men of great mem- 
ories and no imagination, who impute themselves to the poet, 
and so believe that he, too, has no imagination, but is forever 
poking his nose between the pages of some old volume in order 
to see what he can appropriate." 

On the whole, Time treats great things greatly. This reveals 
how close to the great world's heart noble poetry lies. It has 
been said that we are all poets when we read a poem well. 
This j)oem has been well read and worthily praised. Here is a 
great subject so penetrated by the imagination as to reveal its 
soul, its inward harmony with those "primal sympathies which 
having been, must ever be." It is perhaps the finest illustration 
in English literature of what Carlyle calls '■'■^lusical Thought.'''' 

"All we see before us passing, 
Sign and symbol is alone ; 
Here, what thought can never reach to. 
Is by semblances made known ; 
What man's word may never utter 
Done in act — in symbol shown." 

Goethe, Faust. 

Mr. Stopford Brooke says : " It is in the full-weighted dignity 
of the blank verse that the poem was then unparalleled. It 
was marked by a greater grandeur of style and thought, by a 



176 NOTES 

graver beauty, and a more exercised and self-conscious art than 
any poein of its character which England had as yet known. It 
belonged to the Klizabetlian spirit, but it went beyond it, and 
made a new departure for English poetry. 

All tlie kinds of poetry which Milton touched he touched 
with the ease of great strength, and with so nmcli energy that 
they became new in his hands. lie put a fresh life into the 
masque, the sonnet, the elegy, the descriptive lyric, the song, 
the choral drama ; and he created the epic in England. ' ' 

Professor George Saintsbury says : " The versification is the 
versilication of Paradise Lost and has a spring, a variety, a 
sweep and rush of genius which are but rarely present later. 
If poetry (H)uld be taught by the reading of it, then indeed the 
critic's advice to a poet might be limited to this: 'Give your 
days and nights to the reading of Comns.'' " 

Sir Henry Wotton, Provost of Eton College, was perhaps the 
first to express to Milton his appreciation of the poem (cf. p. 19). 

" Gomifs,^'' says Hallam, "was sufficient to convince any one of 
taste and feeling that a great poet had arisen in England and one 
partly formed in a different school from his contemporaries." 

Emerson says: "Milton is rightly dear to mankind, because 
in him — among so many perverse and partial men of genius — 
humanity rights itself : the old eternal goodness finds a home in 
his breast, and for once shows itself beautiful. Among so 
many contrivances to make holiness ugly, in Milton at least it 
was so pure a fiame that the foremost impression his characters 
make is that of elegance. He said, ' Every free and gentle 
spirit, without, the oath of chastity, ought to be born a knight : 
nor needed to expect the gilt spur, or the laying a. sword upon 
his shoulder, to stir him up, by his counsel and his arms, to 
secure and protect innocence.' This native honor never tVn- 
sook him. It is the spirit of Conuis, the loftiest song in praise 
of chastity that is in any language." 

Mr. Henry Van Dyke says: "The Lady in Comns is the 
sweet embodiment of Milton's youthful ideal of virtue clothed 
with the fairness of opening womanhood, armed with the sun- 
clad power of chastity." 



NOTES 177 

"No courtier of Charles I/' says F. D. Maurice, "felt the 
attraction of the nias(iues and entertainments in which the 
monarch and his wife delij^hted, more tlian the; young Puritan. 
In the mas(iue of ' Connis ' the object was to exliibit in richer and 
more glorious verse than had ever bcien conscn-rated to courtly 
tastes and courtly indulgences, the battle of virtue with its 
tempters, and the Divine help whi(;h is sustaining it against 
them." 

3. insphered. Cf. II renseroso, 88, and Arcades, (i:}-?:}. 

4. serene. Some critics think this should be accented on 
the first syllable, but Masson prefers the usual pronunciation of 
the word. 

7. pestered. From in and pastorinm, a clog upon a horse 
at pasture, hence to encumber. 

pinfold. Anglo-Saxon ;>?/n(?rt», to shut in; hence a pound in 
which stray beasts are put. 

11. enthroned. A dissyllable. 

13. golden key. Cf. Lucidds, 111. 

lit. ambrosial weeds. Celestial garments. Cf. LWllcyro, 
120, and note. 

20. high and nether Jove. Jupiter and IMuto. Cf. Homer, 
Iliad, ix. 457, ZeOs re Karax^^rios, Subterranean Jove, i.e. Tluto. 

" The air is Zeus, Zeus earth, and Zeus the heaven, 
Zeus all that is, and what transcends them all." 

tICschvlos, Fnuiment, 20:5, riumptre. 

23. unadorned. Supply before this, " otherwise." 

25. several. Separate. 

27. this Isle, etc. Great Britain. Cf. Richard IL ii. 1 : 

"This royal throne of kings," etc. 

20. quarters. Divides. 

blue-haired. An epithet relating to them as of the sea. 

"The blue-haired ocean." — Mansus. 

30. this tract, etc. Western Britain or Wales. 

31. noble Peer, etc. The Earl of Bridge water. 
mickle. Much. 

N 



178 NOTES 

33. old and haughty. The Welsh, proud of being descend- 
ants of (he Celts. 

31. nursed. Eckicated. 

43-15. for I will tell, etc. Cf. A ^lidsionmcr N'i(/ht\<i Dream, 
V. 1 : 

"Come now; what masques, what dances shall we have, 
To wcMi- away this long age of threes hours 
Between our after-supper and bed-lime ? 
Wliere is our usual manager of mirth ? 
What revels are hi hand ? Is there no play, 
To ease the anguish of a torturuig hour '' 

What masque, what nuisic ? How shall we beguile 
The lazy timi>, if not with some delight ? " 

45. hall or bower. Large public room and private apartments. 
4(5-50. Bacchus, etc. 

"Think not that wine against good verse oiTends ; 
The Muse and Bacchus have been always friends," 

Elcgi/ vi. 

48. After the Tuscan mariners transformed. After the 
transformation of the Tuscan mariners. Alluding to the seizure 
of Bacchus by ])irat('s and their trausformatiini into dolphins as 
given in Ilouu'r's Uijmn to Bacchus. 

50. Circe's island. Cf. Odijssey, x. 

54-58. This genealogy of Comus is a creation of Milton. 

(10. Celtic and Iberian. France and Spain. 

(55. orient. Shining. 

(57. fond. Foolish. 

74. Not once perceive, etc. This is a variation from the 
Homeric account, where the companions of Ulysses are con- 
scious of their state. 

83. spun out of Iris' woof. Cf. Paradise Lost, xi. 244 : 

" Iris had dipt the woof." 

84-01. a swain, etc. A compliment to Henry Lawes, who 
was the actor of the part. 



NOTES 179 

88. of less faith. Not loss trustworthy than he is skilled in 
music. (M. ) 

02. viewless. Cf. Paradise Lost, ili. 51G-518 : 

'' Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood 
There always, but drawn u}) to Heaven sometimes 
Viewless." 

05-1)7. the gilded car of day, etc. AUudhig to the ancient 
idea that tlu^ ocean hissed when the setting sun dropped into it. 
08. slope. Diiciinin^-, asloi)e. 
105. rosy twine. Wreaths of roses. 
110. saws. Maxims. 

'■'• r\\ wipe away all trivial fond records, 
All saws of books," etc. — Hamlet, i. 5. 

ll.'l. spheres. Cf. Arcades, 0;}-7.'>, // Poiscroso, 88, 80, and 
notes. 

110. morrice. A dance introduced by the Moors. 

120. Cotytto. A Thraeian divinity whose rites were asso- 
ciated with impurity. 

132. spets. Old form of spits. 

135. Hecat'. Hecate. IMcsiding genius of witchcraft, sor- 
cery, etc. Cf. Macbeth, ii. 1 : 

" witchcraft celebrates 
Pale Hecate's offerings." 

144. fantastic round. Cf. U Allegro, 34, note. 

151. trains. Allurements. 

154. dazzling spells, etc. Some device is here resorted to 
for producing brilliant scintillations which the air (spongy) 
sucks up. 

107. Whom thrift, etc. This line is omitted in ed. of 1073 
and the next two are transposed. 

175. granges. Granaries. 

188. grey-hooded Even. Cf. Wordsworth, Sonnet : 

'' It is a beauteous evening calm and free : 
The holy time is (juiet as a mui." 



180 NOTES 

204. single. Pure, unmixed. 

207. calling shapes. Cf. Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess 

(Newton) : 

" Or voices calling me in dead of night 
To make me follow." 

215. Chastity. Substituted by Milton for Charity. 

232. Meander. A river of Asia Minor full of windings. 

234. nightingale. Cf. To the Nightingale^ note. 

237. Narcissus. The beautiful youth in love for whom Echo 
pined away till only her voice was left, and who was changed 
into a flower. 

253. with the Sirens. This is invented by Milton. 

254. flowery-kirtled. AVreathed in flowers. 

257-250. Scylla . . . Charybdis. Cf. ^neid, iii. 551-560. 

2G7. Unless. Supply after this, " thou be." 

289. Hebe. Goddess of youth. 

293. swinked. Fatigued. 

299. element. Air or sky. 

301. plighted. Pleated, folded. 

313. bosky. Woody. 

315. attendance. For attendants. 

317. low-roosted. The lark's nest is on the ground. That 
dear old poet, Izaak Walton, says: "At first the Lark, when 
she means to rejoice, to cheer herself and those that hear, she 
then quits the earth and sings as she ascends higher into the 
air ; and having ended her heavenly employment grows mute 
and sad to think she must descend to the dull earth which she 
would not touch but for necessity." 

334. disinherit. Dispossess. 

341, 342. star of Arcady, etc. Alluding to the Great Bear 
being as Tyrian Cynosure to the pole-star in it ; Callisto, 
daughter of the King of Arcacly, was changed into the Great 
Bear. The Tyrian sailors steered by Cynosure — the pole-star. 

360. To cast the fashion. To anticipate the form. 

366. so to seek. So helpless. 

367. unprincipled. Unlearned. 



NOTES 181 

380. all to-ruffled. Ruffled very much, completely. 
382. i' the centre. Of the earth. Cf. Hamlet, ii. 2 . 

"I will find 
Where truth is hid, even though it were hid indeed 
Within the centre." 

385. Himself is his own dungeon. Cf. Samson Agonistes: 

" Thou art become (0 worse imprisonment !) 
The dungeon of thyself." 

393. Hesperian tree. That bore the golden apples in the 
garden of the Hesperides watched by the dragon which Her- 
cules slew. 

395. unenchanted. Not to be enchanted. 

398. unsunned. Hidden. 

401. wink on. Fail to see. 

407. unowned. Unprotected. 

408. Infer. Argue. 

413. squint suspicion. Spenser in Faerie Qiieene, III. xii. 15, 
says of Suspicion : 

' ' His rolling eies did never rest in place. ' ' 

423. trace. Traverse. 

unharboured. Not affording shelter. 

432. Some say no evil thing. Cf. Hamlet, i. 1 : 

' Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes 
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, 
The bird of dawning singeth all night long : 
And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad." 

434, 435. unlaid ghost, etc. Cf. Tempest, v. 1 : 

' ' whose pastime 
Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice 
To hear the solemn curfew." 

430. swart. Black. 



182 NOTES 

439. Antiquity. Up to this time allusion had been made 
only to Mediaeval legend. 

453. So dear to Heaven. Now the speaker passes into Pla- 
tonic philosophy with a touch of Christianity. (M.) 

459-469. Till oft, etc. Platonism. Cf. Byron, Prisoner of 

Chillon : 

" So much a long- comnnmion tends 

To make us what we are.'' 

Cf. Tennyson, Bt/ an Evolutionist^ and Browning, Bahhi Ben 
Ezra. 

47(5-479. How charming, etc. An allusion to Plato, whom 
Milton admired. 

491. you fall on iron stakes else. A caution to those who 
may he friendly. (M.) 

494, 495. Thyrsis, etc. A compliment to Henry Lawes. 

495-512. Note the rhyme scheme here. The purpose is to 
prolong to feeling of pastoralism by calHng up the cadence of 
known English pastorals. (M.) 

515-518. What the sage poets, etc. An allusion to the 
stories of Homer and Virgil. 

520. navel. Centre. 

526. murmurs. Spells, 

529. unmoulding. Destroying. 

531. hilly crofts. Upland pastures. 

534. stabled wolves. Wolves in pens. 

552-554. Till an unusual stop. Alluding to line 145, 

drowsy-flighted. Startled from their drowse. 

555-562. At last, etc. A beautiful compliment to the singing 
of Lady Alice. 

604. Acheron. The infernal river, here used for Hell. Cf, 
Phineas Fletcher's Locusts : 

'' All hell run out, and sooty flags display." (M.) 

605. Harpies. CL ^Ene id, in. 2W-21S : 

" Birds with maidens' faces, a foul discharge, crooked talons, 
and on their cheeks the pallor of eternal famine." 

606. Ind. India : the region of black enchantments. (M.) 



NOTES 183 

608. curls. Coiiius the voluptuary god wore curls. (K.) 
619-628. shepherd lad. An allusion to Milton's friend I)io- 
dati. Cf. Epitapliium Damonis and Elegies i., vi. 
627. simples. Medicinal herbs, 

635. clouted shoon. Mended slijoes. 

636. Moly. Cf. Odyssey, x. By this plant Ulysses is made 
proof from the charms of Circe. 

"The root is black, 
The blossom white as milk. Among the gods 
It's name is Moly." 

638. Haemony. Milton invents this. It may be from //te- 
monia, the old name for Thessaly, the land of magic. (M.) 

646. lime-twigs. Snares smeared with bird lime. 

655. like the sons of Vulcan, vomit smoke. Cf. ^neid, viii. 
251-253, where the giant Cacus, son of Vulcan, is alluded to : 

" Cacus, half man, half brute. 

This monster's father was Vulcan. Vulcan's 

Were the murky fires that he disgorged from his mouth." 

661. Daphne. Who when Apollo pursued her was turned 
into a laurel tree. 
672. julep. Rose-water, here a cordial. 
675. Nepenthes. A drug which Helen gave to Menelaus. 
Cf. Odyssey, iv. 220 : 

" Helen, Jove-born dame. 
With the wine they drank mingled a drug, 
An antidote to grief and anger." 

wife of Thone. Polydamna an Egyptian. 
698. vizored. Disguised. 

707. those budge doctors of the Stoic fur. Budge was an 
old name for lamb's fur, as worn on scholastic gowns. 

Stoic. Who despised the pleasures of the senses. 

708. Cynic tub. Of Diogenes. 
711. un withdrawing. Liberal. 



184 NOTES 

Till hutched. TiU in a chest. 

1'2\. pulse. Hoans, pease, etc. 

7.'U)-7r)rK Beauty is Nature's coin, etc. Cf. Sh.ikospeare's 
Soinivts, i.-vi. 

750. sorry grain. l\nM- color. 

ply the sampler. Make ikh^IIc ^York for samples. Cf. Mid- 
siiiimur XigJi(\'i Drtaiii, iii. l* : 

" We, Uermia, like two artilicial j^oiis. 
Have with our neetlles created both one llower, 
Both on one sampler.'" 

7o()-7()l. These lines are an Aside. 

7(iO. bolt. l\eline. 

701. fence. Thrusts. The ligure is from fenein.u'. 

800-80(). These lines are an Aside. 

SOIk wrath of Jove. In tlie war o{ the I'itans. 

804. Erebus. Infernal regions. 

800, 810. 'tis but the lees. eie. \\\ allusion to the old idea 
that the i^ases of the stomach rose and affected ilu> bi'ain. 

v^l(>. rod reversed. According to the old customs of nndi>ing 
tlie spell by revt^rsing the riul ami pronouncing the words of 
the charm backwards. (M.) 

8'J"J. Melibanis. Common name for shepherds. Here fin* 
Cieoffrey of Monmouth. 

82o. soothest. Truest. 

824-827. There is a gentle N>'Tnph, etc. Milton at one titne 
meditated a poem on the settlement of liritain. He wrote a 
history of Britain as far as the Conquest, lie here alludes to 
the old legentl in (u>ol"frey of Monmouth's Hisdn'ii of the 
Ii)'i(o)is, which makes Brutus the second founder of Britain. 
One of his sons, Locrine, although he was engaged to (lUen- 
dolen of Cornwall, fell in love with Estrildis, a Cicrnian princess. 
(lUendolen's father forced him to marry her, but Estrildis lived 
in his palace and bore him a ilaughter. Sabre, or Sabrina. 
He divorced (luendolen ami ackuowU'dgtMl Estrildis and her 
daughter, but C^nendolen rallied the (^inmish ]ie(^ple to her su[>- 
porl, defeated Lociino and commanded EstriUlis and herdaugh- 



r 



NOTES l8/> 



ter to be drowned in the river, now called Severn from the 
dauf?ht(!r'.s nnine. (^f. Fan'ir, Quenic, II. x. 14-19: 

" Tlu! one kIk; kIcw Mi)on the present floure ; 
IJut th(! sad virgin, innoeitnt of all, 
Adowne tln^ rollin;^ river she did poure, 
Wliich of licr name; now Severne men do call." (10.) 

It was a very en'ectiv(! compliment to the i)eople of Wales. 
Milton varies the; le^c^nd a litth; in tin; interest of Sahrina. 

835. aged Nereus' hall. Milton blends classic mytholo;,'y 
with the Jiritish legend, Nereus was father of the sea nymphs, 
Nereids. 

81^8. asphodil. A llowei- which grew in tli(! Klysian fields. 

845. Helping all urchin blasts. The urchin or hedf^ehog was 
the form often assumed by mischievous elves. Helping is cur- 
ing. Cf. Tempest, ii. 2. Caliban alluding to I'rospero's Spirits 
says : 

" Sometimes like apes they mow and chatter at me, 
And after bite me ; then like hedgehogs which 
Lie tumbling in my banifoot way," etc. 

846. meddl ing elf. ( )ne of the followers of Robin Goodfellow. 
Cf. VAUcf/ro, 105, and note. 

852. old swain. MelilKL'us. 

858. After praising the speeches, Macaulay says : "The in- 
terruptions of the dialogue impose a constraint upon the writer, 
and break the illusion of the reader. The finest passage's are 
those which are lyric in -form as well as in sijirit. . . . When 
he is at liberty to indulge his choral raptures without reserve, 
he rises even above himself. . . . lie stands forth in celestial 
freedom and beauty." 

8(5.3. amber-dropping. Amber-colored and dripping with wet. 

807-880. Listen and appear to us, etc. Allusions to the clas- 
sical mythology here are : Ocecunis, god of the great stream 
which encircled the habitable world ; Neptune is a later sea 
king. Tethys is the wife of Oceanus and mother of the river 
gods. Nereus, see note to line 835. Carpathian Wizard is 



186 NOTES 

Protrus^ who could change into any shape ; he lived in a cave in 
Carpathus in the Mediterranean, lie was a sea shepherd and 
his flock was of sea calves. Ct'. Virgil, (feovfjics, iv. : 

"In the sea gods' Carpathian gulf there lives a seer, Proteus, 
of the sea's own hue, who takes the measure of the mighty deep 
with his flslies, even with his harnessed two-legged steeds." 

Triton, son of Neptune, rode on sea horses, blowing his 
" wreathed horn." 

GlaticHs was a flsherman who, having eaten a certain herb, 
was changed into a sea god, and roved about islands uttering 
oracles for sailors. Loiicotlwa (white goddess) was Ino, daugh- 
ter of Cadnuis. She threw herself and her son into the sea 
and was changed into a sea deity. Cf. Paradise Lost, xi. i;]5 : 

" Leucothea waked and with fresh dews embalmed the Earth." 

Her son was god of ports and harbors. Thetis, one of the 
daughters of Ncreus, was mother of Achilles ; Homer calls her 
silvcrfootcd. Parlhoiope and Liyea were Sirens ; the tomb of 
the former was at Naples. The golden comb seems to suggest 
the mermaids of northern mythology seen " combing their 
golden hair." (M.) 

" With a comb of pearl 1 would comb my hair." 

Tennyson, The Mermaid. 
898. azurn. Azure. 

894. turkis. Tur(pu)ise. 

895. strays. Moved along by tide. 
897. printless feet. Cf. Tempest, v. 1 : 

And ye that on the sands with printless foot 
Do chase the ebbing Neptune." 

921. Amphitrite's bower. Chamber of Amphitrite, the wife 
of Neptune. 

923. Anchises' line. Anchises was the founder of the line 
through ^Kneas, Brutus, etc. 

929. tresses. Foliage on Ihy banks. 

984. lofty head. Source of the riviT, and possibly put for 
the river itself. 



NOTES 187 

058. Back, shepherds. Tlic country (lancers arc interrupted 
by the iirrival of this paiMy. 

950. sun-shine holiday. Compare tiii.s nierryniakinji; with that 
in VAUviivo, O-J-08. 

0(H). without duck or nod. 'I'hcy arc now to hiy asi(hi their 
country ways and assume the miuniers ol' the couiMly dancers. 

07(5-070. To the ocean, etc, CI'. Ariel's sonj; in Tempest^ 

V. 1 : 

" Where the bee sucks, there suck 1 ; 

In a cowslip's bell I lie ; 

There 1 couch when owls do cry. 

On the bat\s back 1 do fly," etc. 

Compare these closing lines of Conms with "Thence through 
the gardens," etc. Cf. T(^nnyson\s llccollcctions of the Arabian 
Nights. 

981. the gardens, etc. Cf. o9;), note. 

000. cedarn. Of cedar. 

008. Beds of hyacinths. Cf. Faerie Qxeene, iii. vi. 4(5. 
Adonis lies 

" Lapped in flowres and pretious spy eery." 

1002. Assyrian queen. Astarte, identified with Venus here. 
1004. Cupid, el(!. Cf. Faerie Queene, iii. vi. 50 : 

" And his trew love fair6 Psyche with him playes," etc. 

1000. side. Cf. Tennyson's Itizpah : 

"They are mine — not 
Theirs — they had moved in my side." 

1010. blissful twins. Spenser gives but one child to Psyche : 

" Pleasure, the daughter of Cupid and Psyche late." 

1017. corners of the moon. Cf. Macbeth., iii. 5 : 

" Uf)on the corner of the moon 
There hangs a vaporous drop jDrofound." 

1022. Or, if Virtue feeble were. Masson gives an interest- 
ing anecdote in connection with the last two lines of Comiis. 



188 NOTES 

When Milton was returning home from his continental travel in 

1630, he met in Geneva a teacher of Italian, Cerclogni or Car- 

douin, a Neapolitan by birth, and probably a Protestant. 

Cardouin asked Milton to write in his album. He complied and 

wrote — 

' ' If Virtue feeble were 

Heaven itselfe would stoope to her. 

" Cceluni non aninuim muto dum trans mare curro. 

"Joannes Miltonius. 
" Jimii 10, 1630. Angius." 

Masson says, "If we combine the English lines with the 
Latin addition, it is as if he said : "The closing words of my 
Comus are a permanent maxim with me.'" 

The album was sold in Geneva in 1834 for a few shillings, 
and after passing through several hands came into the posses- 
sion of Hon. Charles Sumner. It is now in the Sumner collec- 
tion. Harvard College Library. 

Variations in Stage-Diuections 

Stage-directions in the Cambridge Ms., afterwards changed by 
Milton, are: Instead of the opening stage-direction, "The At- 
tendant Spirit descends or enters,'''' we have — 

A Guardian Spirit or Dcemon. 

After line 02: Goes out. — Comus enters, with a charming- 
rod and glass of liquor, with his rout all headed like some wild 
beasts, their garments some like men''s and some like women'' s. 
They come in a wild and antic fashion. Intrant Koj/xd^ovres. 

After 144 : The Pleasure, in a wild, rude, and loanton Antic. 

After 147, where there is no stage-direction now, we have : 
They all scatter. 

After 243, where there is no stage-direction now, we have : 
Comus looks in and enters. 

After 330 : Exeunt. — The Two Brothers enter. 

After 489: He hallos: the Guardian Daemon hallos again 
and enters in the habit of a shepherd. 



NOTES 189 

After 658. The present reading is tlie same as in the Cam- 
bridge Mss. , with the exception that Soft music is omitted from 
first sentence ; and the second reads : Comus is discovered with 
his rabble, and The Lady set in an enchanted chair : she offei's 
to rise. 

After 81o : 2'he Brothers rush in, strike his glass down ; the 
Shapes make as though they would resist, hut are all driven in. 
Daemon enters with them. 

After 806, where there is no stage-direction now, we have : 
To be said, and after 987 there is. Song ends. 

After 957 : Exeunt. — The Scene changes, and then is pre- 
sented Ludloic town, and the Presidents Castle; then enter 
Country Dances and such like gambols, etc. At these sports 
the Daemon, with the Two Brothers and The Lady enter. The 
Daemon sings. 

After 965, we have merely, 2 Song. 

Textual 

The following readings are found in the Cambridge Mss. : 
After 4, the Cambridge draft has, crossed out : 

" Amidst the Hesperian gardens, on whose banks, 
Bedewed with nectar and celestial songs. 
Eternal roses grow, and hyacinths. 
And fruits of golden rind, on whose fair tree 
The scaley-harnessed dragon ever keeps 
His unenchanted eye, around the verge 
And sacred limits of this blissful Isle 
The jealous Ocean, that old river, winds 
His far-extended arms, till with steep fall 
Half his waste flood the wild Atlantic fills. 
And half the slow unfatliomed Stygian pool. 
But soft ! I was not sent to court your wonder 
With distant worlds and strange removed climes. 
Yet thence I come, and oft from thence behold." 

5. " The smoke and stir of this dim narrow spot." 
After 7 : " Beyond the written date of mortal change." 



190 NOTES 

21. " The rule and title of each sea-girt isle." 

28. main, was "his empire." 

58. " Which therefore she brought up and Comus named." 

90. " Nearest and likeliest to give present aid." 

97. Atlantic, was "Tartarian." 

99. dusky, was " Northern." 

108. Advice with, was " quick Law with her." 

123. hath, was "has." 

133. This line has two forms : 

(1) " And makes a blot of nature." 

(2) " And throws a blot o'er all the air." 

134-137 was : 

' ' Stay thy polished ebon chair 
Wherein thou rid'st with Hecate, 
And favour our close jocondry, 
Till all thy dues," etc. 

144. With a light and frolic round. 

1 50. charms, was ' ' trains. ' ' 

151. my wily trains, was " my mother's charms." 
154. dazzling, was "powdered." 

164. snares, was "nets." 

170. mine, was "my." 

175. granges, was "garners." 

181. mazes, was "alleys," and tangled, was "arched." 

190. wain, was " chair. " 

194. To the soon-parting light and envious Darkness. 

195. stole, was "stolne." 

208. that syllable men's names, was "that lure night- wan- 
derers. ' ' 

214. hovering, was "flittering." 

215. unblemished, was "unspotted." 

216. For this line there was : 

" I see ye visibly ; and, while I see ye. 
This dusky hollow is a Paradise, 
And Heaven gates o'er my head : now I believe." 



NOTES 191 

219. guardian, was "cherub." 

231. shell, was "cell." 

243. give resounding grace, was " hold a counterpoint." 

252. it, was "she." 

257. wept, was "would weep." 

258. And chid, was "Chiding." 
270. prosperous, was "prospering." 

270. Near-ushering guides, was " their ushering hands." 

310. the sure guess, was "sure steerage." 

316. Or shroud within these limits, was "within these 
shroudy limits." 

326. And yet most pretended, was "And is pretended yet." 

352. Amongst rude burs and thistles, was " in this dead soli- 
tude." 

355-366 was : 

" She leans her thoughtful head, musing at our unkindness ; 
Or, lost in wild amazement and affright, 
So fares as did forsaken Proserpine, 
When the big rolling flakes of pitchy clouds 
And darkness wound her in. 

1 Br. Peace, brother, peace ! 
I do not think my sister," etc. 

376. sweet retired solitude, was " solitary sweet retire." 
384, 385 : 

" Walks in black vapours, though noon-tide brand 
Blaze in the summer solstice." 

390. weeds, w^as ' ' beads. ' ' 

391. His few books, or his beads, was "His books, or his 
hair gown." 

403. wild surrounding waste, was (1) "wide surrounding 
w^aste," and (2) "vast and hideous wild." 
409, 410. For these lines there was the following : 

" Secure without all doubt or question. No : 
I could be willing, though now i' the dark, to try 
A tough encounter with the shaggiest ruffian 



192 NOTES 

That lurks by hedge or lane of this dead circuit, 
To have her by my side, though I were sure 
She might be free from peril where she is : 
But, where an equal poise," etc. 

422, 423. For these lines we have : 

"And may, on every needful accident. 
Be it not done in pride or wilful tempting. 
Walk through huge forests," etc. 

425. rays was " awe." 
After 429 was the- following : 

"And yawning dens, where glaring monsters house." 

432. Some say, was "Nay more." 

434. meagre, was "wrinkled." 

465. lewd and lavish, was " the lascivious." 

471. sepulchres, was "monuments." 

472. Lingering, was " Hovering." 

485. roving robber, was (1) "curled man of the sword," 
and (2) "hedger." 

490. " Had best look to his forehead : here be brambles." 

491. iron, was "pointed." 
49(3. dale, was "valley." 

497. swain, was "shepherd." 

498. Slipped from the fold, was " Leap't o'er the pen." 
513. ye, was "you." 

531. hilly crofts, was "pastured lawns." 
555, 556 : 

" At last a soft [still, sweet] and solemn breathing sound 
Rose like the soft steam of distilled perfumes." 

605. monstrous forms, was "monstrous bugs." 
607-609 : 

" And force him to release his new-got prey. 
Or drag him by the curls and cleave his scalp 
Down to the hips." 

614. unthread, was "unquilt." 



NOTES 193 

627. names, was " hues. ■" 

636. That Hermes once, was " Which Mercury." 

650. dauntless hardihood, was "sudden violence." 

658. " And good Heaven cast his best regard upon us." 

661. or as Daphne, was " fixed as Daphne." 

After 678 there was : 

" Poor Lady, thou hast need of some refreshing." 

707. fur, was "gown." 

718. Thronging, was ' ' Cramming. ' ' 

After 713 there was : 

" The fields with cattle, and the air with fowl." 

732-734. For these there were five lines : 

" The sea o'erfraught would heave her waters up 
Above the stars, and the unsought diamonds 
Would so bestud the centre with their star-light 
And so emblaze the forehead of the deep. 
Were they not taken thence, that they below." 

744. with languished head, was " and fades away." 
749. complexions, was ' ' beetle brows. ' ' 
806. Come, no more, "Come, y'are too moral." 
807-809. Here we have only two lines : 

" This is mere moral stuff, the very lees 
And settlings." 

816. rod, was "art." 

821. Some other means I have, was "There is another way 
that." 

834. pearled, was " white," and took, was "received." 

After 846 was: "And often takes our cattle with strange 
pinches." 

851. "Of pansies and of bonnie daffodils." 

853. " Each clasping charm and secret holding spell." 

860. Art sitting, was " sit'st." 

895. That in the channel stays, was "That my rich wheels 
inlays." 



194 NOTES 

910. Brightest, was "Virtuous." 

921. " To wait on Aniphitrite in her bower." 

957. sits, was "reigns." 

9(52, 968 : 

" Of nimbler toes, and courtly guise, 

Such as Hermes did devise." 

979. broad, was "plain." 
983. There was first here : 

" Where grows the high-borne gold upon his native tree," 

but it was struck out. 

990, 991 : 

" About the myrtle alleys fling 

Balm and cassia's fragrant smells." 

After 995 is the following, crossed for erasure : 

" Yellow, watchet, green, and blue." 

990. Elysian, was " Sabfean." 

999. young Adonis oft, was " many a cherub soft." 

1012. Task is smoothly, was " message well is." 

1014. green Earth's end, was " Earth's green end." 

1015. Slow, was (1) "low," (2) "clear." 
1023. stoop, was "bow." 

1637-1638-1645 

Lycidas 

(In Milton's hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 

For three years after the compositi(m of Comns Milton lived 
a quiet life at Horton with books and Nature, but the year 1637 
brought him his first great grief. His mother, who had been 
an embodiment of woman nobly planned, passed away on the 
third of April. She was of sweet and tender disposition, of 
gracious household ways, and we must believe that she had 
much to do in opening the mind of her son to beautiful thoughts. 
We believe he had her in mind when he wrote the following : 



NOTES 195 

" Yet when I approach 
Her loveliness, so absolute she seems 
And in herself complete, so well to know 
Her own, that what she wills to do or say- 
Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best. 
All higher knowledge in her presence falls 
Degraded ; Wisdom in discourse with her 
Loses discountenanced, and like Folly shows ; 
Authority and Reason on her wait, 
As one intended lirst, not after made 
Occasionally ; and to consummate all, 
Greatness of mind and nobleness their seats 
Build in her loveliest, and create an army 
About her, as a guard angelic, placed," 

Paradise Lost, viii. 546-559. 

She was buried in the Parish Church of Horton. On the plain 
slab in the floor of the chancel may be read — " Heare lyeth the 
Body of Sara Milton, the wife of John Milton^ who died the 3rd 
of April, 1637.'' 

It is worth while here to refer to those other noble tributes to 
mothers in the works of Wordsworth and Tennyson : 

" Early died my honoured mother, she who was the heart 
And hinge of all our learnings and our lives : 

She, not falsely taught, 
Fetching her goodness rather from times past, 
Than shaping novelties for times to come, 
Had no presumption, no such jealousy, 
Nor did by habit of her thoughts mistrust 
Our nature, but had virtual faith that He 
Who fills the mother's breast with innocent milk, 
Doth also for our nobler part provide 
Under His great correction and control. 
As innocent instincts, and as innocent food : 



196 NOTES 

This was her creed, and therefore she was pure 
From anxious fear of error or mishap 
And evil overweeningly so called. 

Such was she. Not from faculties more strong 

Than others have, but from the times, perhaps, 

And spot in which she lived, and through a grace 

Of modest meekness, simple-mindedness, 

A heart that found benignity and hope, 

Being itself benign." 

Prelude, v. 

" 'Alone,' I said, ' from earlier than I know. 
Immersed in rich foreshadowings of the world, 
I loved the woman : he, that doth not, lives 
A drowning life, besotted in sweet self. 
Or pines in sad experience worse than death, 
Or keeps his wing'd affections dipt with crime : 
Yet was there one thro' whom I loved her, one 
Not learned, save in gracious household ways. 
Not perfect, nay, but full of tender wants, 
No Angel, but a dearer being, all dipt 
In Angel instincts, breathing Paradise, 
Interpreter between the Gods and men, 
Who look'd all native to her place, and yet 
On tiptoe seem'd to touch upon a sphere 
Too gross to tread, and all male minds perforce 
Sway'd to her from their orbits as they moved, 
And girdled her with music. Happy he 
With such a mother ! faith in womankind 
Beats with his blood, and trust in all things high 
Comes easy to him, and tho' he trip and fall 
He shall not blind his soul with clay.' " 

llie rrincess, vii. 

Hardly had Milton gathered himself from the shock of this 
affliction when he was called to face another in the death of his 
college friend Edward King. In the association of Milton and 



NOTES 197 

King we have an illustration of those significantly touching 
attachments of man to man which have so often quickened 
the pulse and chastened the spirit of English poetry ; as in the 
case of Spenser and Sidney, Shakespeare and " W. H., the only 
begetter of the Sonnets," Shelley and Keats, Tennyson and 
Ilallam, Arnold and Clough, Wordsworth and Coleridge. 

King was one of the students of Milton's time of whom much 
was to be expected. lie had written some respectable Latin 
verse, and was appointed to a Fellowship in Christ's College. 
In the long vacation of 16^7 he started on a visit to his family 
and friends in Ireland, and while passing from Chester to Dub- 
lin the vessel struck on the rocks, and he, witli other passengers, 
was drowned. A volume of memorial verses was proposed at 
the reassembling of the College in October, and early in 1638 
was published in two sections, one in Latin and Greek, and the 
other in English ; the title of the latter was " Obsequies to the 
Memorie of Mr. Edward Kinr/, Anno Dom., lOSSy In this 
collection Milton's poem stands last. 

Among the Sicilian and Alexaudiian Greeks there arose a 
form of poetry which idealized country life, in which the beauty 
and freshness of simple primary affections and passions were 
the centre of interest. Theocritus the Syracusan was the most 
important of the creators of this poetry. 

"Nay, but, Galatea, come ! 

Come thence, and having come, forget henceforth, 

As I, (who tarry here) to seek thy home ! 

And may'st thou love with me to feed the flocks 

And milk them and to press the cheese with me. 

Curdling their milk with rennet." 

Theociutus. 

They gave the name Eclogues (Eklogai), Goatherd's Tales, 
to these simple productions. 

Virgil copied from the Greeks and gave the name Bucolic or 
Pastoral to his work. He says : " Muses of Sicily, let us strike 
a somewhat loftier strain ... at length a new generation is 
descending from heaven." And again : "First of all, my muse 



198 • NOTES 

deigned to disport herself in tlie strains of pastoral Syracnse, 
and disdained not to make her home in tlie woods, goddess 
as slie was." 

Eclogues iv. and vi. 

" Cruel Alexis ! have you no care for my songs ? no pity for 
me ? You will drive me to death at last. It is the hour when 
even cattle are seeking the shade and its coolness — the hour 
when even green lizards are sheltering themselves in the brakes, 
and Thestylis is preparing for the reapers, as they come back 
spent with the veliement heat, her savory mess of garlic and 
wild thyme." 

Eclogue ii. 

As Virgil copied from the Greeks, so the Italians of the 
Renaissance imitated Virgil, but added an element of moralizing 
verging on satire. With the Renaissance the pastoral entered 
England, with Sydney and Spenser it reached its finest type in 
the Arcadia, The SliephearcV s Calendar, and The Faerie Queene. 

" Shepheards, that wont, on pipes of oaten reed, 
Oft times to plaine your loves concealed smart ; 
And witli your piteous layes have learnd to breed 
Compassion in a countrey lasses hart 
Hearken, ye gentle shepheards, to my song. 
And place my dolefull plaint your plaints emong." 

Astrophel. 

Writing to a friend at this time, Milton says : " What God 
has resolved concerning me I know not, but this I know at 
least — He lias instilled into me a vehement love of the beauti- 
ful. . . . You ask what I am thinking of ? So may the Good 
Deity help me ; of immortality — I am pluming my wings and 
meditating flight." He may have been meditating upon his 
epic when the death of his friend called him away for a time. 
The poem is pastoral in form, with prologue and epilogue, and 
a body of monody by a shepherd mourning. That Milton's 
feelings tended to cause him to violate this form we are sure, as 
twice he checks himself for passing beyond the limits of a pastoral. 



NOTES 199 

Alluding to the mingling of national and social philosophy 
with tlie pastoral mourning, Mr. Stopford Brooke says: "One 
of its strange charms is its soleinn undertone rising like a 
i-eligious cliant through the elegiac music. . . . the sense of 
Christian religion pervading the classical imagery." The tone 
of religious earnestness, wliich is manifest as a subordinate ele- 
ment in the early poems, becomes primary in the poems of the 
Horton period. It is in the U Allegro and II Penseroso as a plea 
for a "reasonable life" ; in Comus as a condemnation of the 
license of the court, and a hymn in praise of temperance and 
chastity ; in the Lycidas as a fierce denunciation of the cor- 
ruptions of the church — that " grim wolf with privy paw," 

Lowell says: "The strain heard in the 'Nativity Ode,' in 
the 'Solemn music,' and in 'Lycidas' is of a higher mood, as 
regards metrical construction, than anything that had thrilled 
the English ear before, giving no uncertain augury of him who 
was to show what sonorous metal lay silent till he touched the 
keys in the epical organ-pipes of our various languages." 

Emerson says: "No individual writer has been an equal 
benefactor of the English language by showing its capabili- 
ties." 

1. Yet once more, etc. Three years had elapsed since Milton 
had written Comus. He had written nothing in the interim. 

3-5. I come to pluck, etc. The symbolism here evidently is 
that he is compelled to write when but for the sad event he 
would be gathering himself for work which would merit the 
laurel wreath in due season. 

8-9. Lycidas is dead . . . young Lycidas. The name Lyci- 
das is taken from classic pastorals by Ovid and Virgil. The 
reflection here is common. Cf. Spenser, Astrophel : 

"Young Astrophel, the pride of shepheard's praise, 
Young Astrophel, the rusticke lasses love." 

10, 11. he knew, etc. Cf. supra. 

15. Begin then. Cf . Spenser, Teares of the Muses : 

" Rehearse to me, ye sacred Sisters nine," etc. 



200 " NOTES 

sacred well. The rierian Spring- at the foot of Olympus, the 
seat of the Hoiueric I'antheou. 

19-22. So may some gentle muse, etc. The prayer here 
expressed by Milton that he hinisell' would merit some memorial 
has been generously answered. 

2o-o0. For we were nursed, etc. A beautiful setting of their 
life at Cambridge. 

28. grey-fly. Cleg, or horse-fly. 

JU-oC). Rough Satyrs, ete. Masson thinks there may be an 
allusion here to some of JMilton's undergraduate associates, and 
that old Damoetus may refer to some Fellow or tutor. 

40. gadding. Wandering, straggling. 

46. taint-worm. The name taiiict was once given to a small 
red spider, deadly to cattle. (M.) 

49. Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherd's ear. Cf. Mids. 
N. Dream, i. 1 : 

"More tuneable than lark to shei^herd's ear, 
When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear." 

5tV55. Where were ye, etc. Cf. Virgil, EcJoi/uc x. : 

" What forests, what lawns were your abode, virgin nymphs 
of the fountains, when (J alius was wasting under an unworthy 
passion ? What, indeed ? for it was not any spot in the ridges 
of Parnassus or of Pindus that kept you there ; no, nor Aonian 
Aganippe." 

Virgil imitated the first idyl of Theocritus, but ISIasson 
agrees with Keightley that Milton excels Virgil in imitation. 

52. The steep, etc. This is an allusion to some particular 
mountain in Wales. 

54. Mona. The fastness of the Druids in Anglesey. 

55. Deva. The Dee. The old boundary between England 
and Wales. Cf. Faerio Qneeue, I. ix. 4: 

"From whence the river Dee, as silver cleene. 
His tombling billowes rolls with gentle rore." 

Chester, the port from which King sailed, is on the Dee. 
58-G8. What could the Muse, etc. Orpheus, the son of Cal- 



NOTES 201 

liope, because he continued to grieve for Eurydice (cf. ncjte 
L'' Allcyro^ 145), wa8 torn to pieces by the offended Thracian 
women in their JJacchanalian or^i(;s. Tiie Musch buried frag- 
ments of the body at tlie foot of Mount Olympus, but his liead 
was thrown into the river Ilebrus, wliich carried it to the 
island of Lesbos, where it was buried. Cf. Paradise Lost, vii. 
32-39 : 

" Hut drive far off the barbarous dissonance 
Of Bacchus, and his revellers, the race 
Of tiiat wild rout that tore the Thracian bard 
In Illiodope, vvhcire woods and rocks had ears 
To rapture, till the savage clamour dnjwn'd 
Botli liarp and voice ; nor could the Muse 
I)(!f(!nd her son." 

07-00. Were it not better, etc. To lead a life of ease and 
pleasure. AmaryUis and Necera are names of shepherds' sweet- 
hearts in the old pastorals. 

70. clear. Aspiring. 

75. blind Fury. Atropos. 

77. touched my trembling ears. The idea here seems to be 
that Milton was over-anxious Un- fanie. Cf. Virgil, Eclogue vi. 
"Cum canerem reges et proelia, Cynthius aurem vellit, et 
admonuit," which Conington translates, " When I was ventur- 
ing to sing of kings and battles, tlie Cynthian god touched my 
ear and appealed to my memory." Here touching the ear is 
symbolic of quickening the memory. 

70. glistering foil. Temporary reputation, wliich might like 
the shining tinsel wrap a very cheap article. 

81 , H2. But lives, etc. Compare this alliance of Heaven with 
true fame, with tlie idea in tlie last two lines of Comus. 

85, 80. fountain Arethuse. The nymph of the fountain of 
Arethusa in Sicily was the Muse of pastoral poetry as revealed 
in Theocritus : Mincius was a river of Italy near which Viigil, 
the type of Latin pastoral poet, was born. Cf. Virgil, Eclogue 
vii. : 

" Mincius fringing his green banks with a border of vocal reeds." 



202 NOTES 

87, 88. That strain, etc. The words of Apollo were more 
profound than the simple pastoral. 

89, 90. the Herald of the sea, etc. In the judicial inquiry 
in regard to the death of Lycidas Triton came as representative 
of Neptune. 

93. rugged. Ragged. Cf. L'' Allegro, 0. 

96. Hippotades. ^olus, the god of the winds, was son of 
Hippotes. 

99. Panope. One of the Nereids. 

101. Built in the eclipse. Cf. Macbeth, iv. 1 : 

' ' Slips of yew 
Slivered in the moon's eclipse " 

are one of the ingredients of the witches' hell-broth. 

103-107. Next, Camus, etc. The genius of the river Cam 
and of Cambridge University. Masson gives the note in 
Plumptre's Greek translation of Comus in explanation of the 
garb of Camus : 

"The mantle is as if made of the plant 'river spruce' which 
floats copiously on the Cam : the bonnet of the river-sedge, dis- 
tinguished by vague marks traced somehow over the middle of 
the leaves and serrated at the edge of the leaves, after the 
fashion of the At', Af of the hyacinth." The hyacinth was the 
flower in whose petals the Greeks saw the At', at. Alas ! Alas ! 

Inwrought. In the Ms. this is "scrawled o'er." 

107. pledge. Hope, an allusion to the expectation of what 
King would have done had he lived. Cf. In Memoriam, lxxii.: 

" The fame is quench'd that I foresaw, 

The head hath miss'd an earthly wreath," etc. 

108-131. Last came, etc. Cf. Matthew iv. 18-20. The 
reader should consult Kuskin's comment on this passage in 
" King,' s Treasures " {Sesame and Lilies). Masson says, "St. 
Peter, here called by name suggesting his original occupation as 
fisherman and with occult reference to the fact that Lycidas 
had perished at sea." The tradition of the Church as to the 
office of St. Peter is symbolized by the possession of the two 



NOTES 203 

keys, one for opening and the other for shutting. "Though 
not a lover of false bishops, Milton was a lover of true ones." — 
RusKiN. " And were the punishment and misery of being a 
prelate-bishop terminated only in the person, and did not ex- 
tend to the affliction of the whole diocese, if I would wish any- 
thing in the bitterness of soul to mine enemy, I would wish him 
the biggest and fattest bishopric." — Apology for Smectymnuiis. 

112. mitred locks. Milton here allows St. Peter to speak 
with episcopal authority. "The Lake-Pilot is here in Mil- 
ton's thoughts the type and head of true episcopal power." — 

RUSKIN. 

113. How well could I have spared, etc. This passage con- 
cluding in line 129 is in many respects the most significant in 
the poem. A more graphic picture of the incapacity of the 
hireling church can hardly be conceived. It reveals how surely 
though quietly the bow was being strung which only the sinews 
of Ulysses could draw, and which would send the arrow to 
the mark when the time canle. We wonder how it could 
have escaped the condemnation of those against whom it was 
directed. Emerson says : " Questions that involve all social 
and personal rights were hasting to be decided by the sword, 
and were searched by eyes to which the love of freedom, civil 
and religious, lent new illumination." 

115. Creep, and intrude, and climb. Ruskin says : "Do not 
think Milton uses these three words to fill up his verse. He 
needs all the three ; specially those three, and no more than 
those. — 'Creep,' and 'intrude,' and 'climb,' no other 
words would or could serve the turn, and no more could be 
added." There are three classes here: First, the cunning; 
second, the insolently bold ; and third, those who are ambitious 
to gain high dignities. 

119. Blind mouths. " Those two monosyllables express the 
precisely accurate contraries of right character ; in the two 
great offices of the Church — those of bishop and pastor. A 
Bishop means one who sees. A Pastor means one who feeds. 
The most unbishoply character a man can have is therefore to 
be Blind. The most unpastoral is, instead of feeding, to want 



204 jy or !<:s 

to lio fod — to bo a Mouth." — Kuskin. Cf. Wordsworth, 
Pnludc, I 210, 211 : 

" ballad lun(\s 
Food for tlu> lnini2;ry cars of littlo ()iu's." 

TJl. scrannel. Scroocliiim-. CoIiumI by Milton. (M.) 
125. The hungry sheep look up, etc. Cf. SpiMiscr, Shcp- 
heariVs Caloidar (Mayo"): 

Ficrs. " riios(> fay (ours lifde roi;"ardiMi tlioir char<;o, 

Wliil(> ihey letting their sheepe runne at lariiv, 

TassiMi (hoir liuu» (hat, slundd bo spangly spont, 

lu lusdhodo and wanton nioryuien(. 

Thilke same bene shepeheardes for tlu^ DoviTs stodde, 

That playiMi wliilo tluMr tlockos bo uufoddo." 

Cf. Ron J«>usou, l\ni's Ainiivcrsary : 

Shcp. " Now oaoh nMurn un((> his oliari];(% 

An(i (bou.i;h b)day you've lived a(, larc:e, 
And well your Hocks have fod thoir (ill, 
Yot do not trust your hireling still. 
See y«)nd' they go, and timely do 
The ollico you have put them to ; 
But if you often give this leave, 
\o\\v shoop and you (hoy will doooivo." 

Cow]>or musl liavi^ had (luvso liiu^s in mind wIumi ho wrote : 

" Whon nations aro \o itorish in thtMr sins, 
"Tis in tlu^ ohun'h iho lo]>i"(^sy bi\<;ins ; 
The priost, whost> o\\\co is, with zoal sincere, 
To wati'h (ho foun(ain and pnvsm'vc i( clear. 
Carelessly nods and sloojis u]ioii (lu^ brink. 
While odicrs poison what (ho (lock must ilrink.'' 

V2(\. wind and rank mist. Unsubstantial and luiwholosome 
doctrines. "This is to moot the vulgar answer that 'if the 



NOTES 205 

poor are not looked after in their bodies, they are in tlieir souls ; 
they have si)iritiuil food.' " — Uuskin. 

128. grim wolf. The Church of Rome was growing by the 
converts it made and th(!re was little opposition. 

K]0. that two-handed engine. This i)assage has puzzled 
the critics. Some think it refers to the axe to be laid at the 
root of th(! trees, or the sword which Michael the Archangel 
" brandisJKjd with huge two-lianded sway" in the war in 
Heaven, while others tliiiik it alludes to the sword of the 
Ap()calyi)S(!. It evidently has a IJiblical oi-igin. Masson 
thinks it may mean the Two Houses of I'arliament, from the 
fact that not for eight years had (Miarlcs suii\moiied a Tarlia- 
ment. When we consider what an "engine" the Parlia- 
ment of 1()10 was, we may not consider this interpn^tation 
far-fetched. 

l.'J2. Return, Alpheus, etc. After the digression the ])astoral 
note is resumed by calliJig upon the lover of Arethusa. Cf. 
line 85. 

18(5. use. Stay. 

188. swart star. The malignant Dog-star Sirius. 

sparely. Karely. 

142-151. Bring the rathe primrose, etc. Ruskin in Modern 
Painters^ Vol. II. "Of Imagination Penetrative," page 108, lias 
a somewhat singular comment on the first seven lines of this 
beautiful passage. It seems to contradict the teaching of Vol. 
I. He says : " Compare Milton's fiowers in LycAdas with 
Perdita's. In Milton it happens, I think generally, and in the 
case before us most certainly, that the imagination is mixed 
and broken with fancy, and so tlie strength of the imagery is 
part of iron and part of clay." He then marks the lines as 
follows : 

142. (Imagination.) 

148. (Nugatory.) Unimaginative. 

144. (Fancy.) 

145. (Imagination.) 
14(5. (Fancy, vulgar.) 
147. (Imagination.) 



206 NOTES 

us. (Mixed.) 

"Then hear Ferdita : 

' O, Proserpina, 
For the flowers now, that frighted thou let'st fall 
From Dis's wagon. Daffodils 
That come before tlie swallow dares, and take 
The winds of March with beauty. Violets dim, 
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes 
Or Cytherea's breath ; pale primroses 
That die unmarried, ere they can behold 
Bright Phoebus in his strength, a malady 
Most incident in maids.' " — Winter'' s Tale. 

Observe how the imagination in these last lines goes into the 
very inmost soul of the flower . . . and never stops on their 
spots, or their bodily shape, while Milton sticks in the stains 
upon them and puts us off with that unhappy freak of jet in 
the very flower tliat without this bit of paper-staining would 
have been the most precious to us of all." 
Cf. Spenser, ShephercVs Calendar (April) : 

" Bring hither the pincke and purple cullambine, 

With gelliflowres ; 
Bring coronations, and sops-in-wine, 

Worn of paramoures : 
Strowe me the ground with daffadowndillies, 
And cowslips, and kingcups, and loved lillies ; 

The pretie pawnee. 

And the chevisaunce, 
Shall match with the fay re flower-delice." 

Cf. Keats, Endymion., book ii. 412-418 : 

" the ivy mesh, 
Shading its Ethiop berries ; and the woodbine, 
Of velvet leaves and bugle-blooms divine ; 
Convolvulus in streaked vases flush ; '■ 

The creeper, mellowing for an autumn blush ; 
And virgins bower, trailing airily ; 
With others of the sisterhood. ' ' 



NOTES 207 

Cf. Tennyson, In 3Iemoriam, lxxxiii : 

" Bring orchis, bring tlie fox-glove spire, 
Tlie little speedwell's darling blue, 
Deep tulips dasli'd with fiery dew. 
Laburnums, dropping-wells of fire." 

142. rathe. Early. Our word rather is the comparative of 
this adjective. 

148. crow-toe. Crowfoot violet. 

151. laureate hearse. Laurelled tomb. 

153. dally with false surmise. Think that the body is en- 
tombed, though really it is washed about by the sea. 

156-162. beyond the stormy Hebrides, etc. King was ship- 
wrecked on the Irish coast. Milton sketches the wanderings of 
the body to the Scottish coast — to Land's End, Cornwall — the 
fabled abode of Bellerus, where the "guarded mount," St. 
Michael's, looks toward Cape Finistere and the castle (hold) of 
Bayona on the south. 

163. Look homeward. Here Michael, who has been looking 
toward Naumancos and Bayona's hold, is asked to direct his gaze 
toward England. 

164. ye dolphins, etc. An allusion to the rescuing of Arion, 
whom the sailors had thrown overboard. 

165-181. Weep no more, etc. Compare these lines with 198- 
219 oi Epitaphium Damonis, pp. 256, 257. 

169. repairs. Raises again. 

170. new-spangled ore. Renewed golden splendor. 

173. Through the dear might of Him, etc. Note the appo- 
siteness to the whole subject of the poem in this reference to 
Christ's power over the waves. (M.) 

176. unexpressive. Inexpressibly sweet. (M.) 

181. And wipe the tears, etc. Cf. Bev. vii. 17, xxi. 4. 

183. thou art the Genius, etc. Cf. Epitaphium Damonis, 
207-211. 

186. uncouth. Unknown, rather than rude, seems to be the 
idea here. 



208 NOTES 

188. stops of various quills. Alluding to the changing 
moods of the poem. 

189. Doric. The Greek pastoral poets used the Doric dialect. 

Textual 

The following were the readings of the Cambridge Mss. : 
10. he knew, was " he well knew." 
22. And bid, was '' To bid." 
26. opening, was "glimmering." 

30. star that rose at evening bright, was " even-star bright." 

31. westering, was " burnished." 
47. wardrobe, was "buttons." 
58-03. These lines were r 

" What could the golden-haired Calliope 
For her enchanting son. 
When she beheld (the gods far-sighted be) 
His gory scalp roll down the Thracian lea ? ' ' 

In the margin after " enchanting son" these lines were substi- 
tuted for the two lines that follow : 

" Whom universal Nature might lament. 
And Heaven and Hell deplore, 
When his divine head down the stream was sent, 
Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore." 

69. Or with, was " Hid in." 

85. honoured, was "smooth." 

86. smooth-sliding, was "soft-sliding." 

105. Inwrought, was "Scrawled o'er," with "Inwrought" 
in margin. 

129. nothing, was "little." 

138. sparely, was "stintly," though "sparely" had been 
first written. 

139. Throw, was "Bring." 

142-151. For these lines there were the following : 

" Bring the rathe primrose that un wedded dies, 
Colouring the pale cheek of unenjoyed love 



NOTES 209 

And that sad flower that strove 

To write his own woes on the vermeil grain : 

Next add Narcissus that still weeps in vain, 

The woodbine, and the pansy freakt with jet, 

The glowing violet. 

The cowslip wan that hangs his pensive head. 

And every bud that Sorrow's livery wears ; 

Let daffadillies fill their cups with tears ; 

Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed, 

To strew," etc. 

" Sorrow's livery " is changed into " sad escutcheon," and that 
into the present reading. 

153. frail, was "sad." 

154. shores, was " floods. " / 
160. Bellerus, was " Corineus." ^ 
176. And hears, was "Listening." (T.) 

1642-1645 

When the Assault was Intended to the City 

(Copy in the hand of an amanuensis, but title in Milton's own liaud 
in the Cambridge MSS.) 

In spite of the fact that the breach between Royalist and 
Puritan was daily becoming wider, Milton having gained the 
approval of his father prepared to carry out a long-cherished 
plan of visiting Italy. His passport was furnished by Sir Henry 
Wotton, Provost of Eton, and early in May he crossed the 
Channel, "to fresh woods and pastures new." "A more im- 
pressive Englishman never left our shores," says Augustine 
Birrell. "Sir Philip Sidney perhaps approaches him nearest. 
Beautiful beyond praise, and just sufficiently conscious of it to 
be careful not to appear at a disadvantage — a gentleman, a 
scholar, a poet, a musician, and a Christian." In Paris he was 
presented to the English Ambassador of Charles, and by him 
was introduced to "that most learned man," Hugo Grotius, 
Ambassador from the Queen of Sweden. He remained in Paris 
but a short time, for his dreams of classic Italy lured him on. 



210 NOTES 

In August we find him in Florence. Here he was received with 
the kindest hospitality by many of the young men in the fa- 
mous literary circles, and was praised with a true Italian fervor. 
He met the famous Galileo — old, feeble, and blind — at his 
villa in Arcetri. This was the most impressive of all his expe- 
riences in Italy. From Florence he went to Rome, where he 
refreshed his memory of Horace, Livy, and Virgil by visiting 
places associated with their life and work. He heard Leonora 
Baroni, the first singer of the world at that time, and expressed 
his enthusiasm for her art in Latin epigrams. In five sonnets 
written in Italian we have another illustration of Milton's wor- 
ship at the shrine of Italian beauty. He was captivated by the 
"magnetic movements and love-darting dark brow" of some 
daughter of this land of art and beauty. What a lover he was 
is splendidly illustrated in the sonnet which Masson has trans- 
lated : 

" Young, gentlenatured, and a simple wooer, 

Since in myself I stand in doubt to fly. 

Lady, to thee my heart's poor gift would I 

Offer devoutly ; and by tokens sure 
I know it faithful, fearless, constant, pure. 

In its conceptions graceful, good, and high. 

When the world roars and flames the startled sky ; 

In its own adamant it rests secure ; 
As free from chance and malice ever found, 

And fears and hopes that vulgar minds confuse, 

As it is loyal to each manly thing 
And to the sounding lyre and to the muse. 

Only in that part is it not so sound 

Where Love hath set in it his cureless sting," 

He writes to his friend Diodati and confides in him the secret 
of the passionate love. Oii returning home he learned at 
Geneva that soon after he left England Diodati had died. This 
sadness, together with the feeling that it was unpatriotic for 
him to be in pleasure when his friends at home were struggling 
for freedom, hurried him to England. He revealed his sense of 



NOTES 211 

loss at the death of his friend in a Latin elegy, Epitaphium 
Damonis. 

Mr. Richard Garnett says : " Four times has a great English 
poet taken up his abode in 'the paradise of exiles,' and re- 
mained there until deeply imbued with the spirit of the land. 
The Italian residence of Byron and Siielley, of Landor and 
Browning, has infused into English literature a new element 
which has mingled with its inmost essence." 

On returning to England in August, 1639, Milton did not 
take active part in the controversies of the time, but settled in 
studious life. After a short visit to Ilorton he took lodgings in 
St. Bride's, Fleet Street. He soon found these too small, and 
the next year he removed to Aldersgate Street, outside the city 
walls, near Islington, a quiet and restful quarter. Here he 
planned a poem which should be a monument to the English 
language — the first attempts at Paradi.se Lost. Here, too, he 
became tutor to his nephews and a few other boys. What his 
ideas of education were may be found in his Tractate on Edu- 
cation, written in 1044. In it occurs his famous definition : " I 
call therefore a complete and generous education that which 
fits a man to perform justly, skilfully, and magnanhnously all 
oJEfices, both private and public, of peace and war." 

In 1041 he began a series of pamphlets on social and political 
questions, the first of which was Of Beformation Touching 
Ohnrch Discipline in England. 

The Civil War had begun, and Milton decided that he could 
be of more assistance to the Parliamentarians with the pen than 
in other ways. . The battle at Edgehill had been fought Octo- 
ber 23, 1042, and the Cavaliers were advancing toward London. 
All was confusion and excitement in the city when news came 
that the enemy had been checked at Brentford. Milton had 
reason to think the Cavaliers would seek him out, and half in 
jest, half in earnest, he wrote this sonnet to the commander. 
The title given in the Cambridge Mss. is significant : " On his 
dore when ye cittij expected an assault.'''' This was afterwards 
changed by Milton himself to the present title. 

Masson finds " a mood of jest or semi-jest in the whole affair," 



212 NOTES 

but Lowell prefers to see in it evidence of Milton's quiet assump- 
tion of equality witli Pindar and Euripides, whose memory, by 
the chance singing of the chorus of Euripides, secured immu- 
nity for other Avails. 

Mr. Richard Garnett says: "It should seem that if Milton 
detested the enemy's principles, he respected his pikes and 
guns. If this strain seems deficient in the fierceness befitting a 
besieged patriot, let it be remembered that Milton's doors were 
literally defenceless, being outside the rampart of the city." 

Mr. Henry Van Dyke in comparing Milton and Tennyson 
says : "To Milton came the outward conflict ; to Tennyson the 
Inward grief. And as we follow them beyond the charmed 
circle of their early years, we must trace the parallel between 
them, if indeed we can find it at all, far below the surface ; 
although even yet we shall see some external resemblances 
amid many and strong contrasts." 

1. Colonel. A trisyllable. The word was formerly coronel, 
Captain coronel, chief captain, Cf. Spenser, State of Ireland^ 
"their Coronell, named Don Sebastian." 

3. In edition of 1645 this was : "If ever deed of honour did 
thee please." (M.) 

5. charms. Magic verses. 

10. Emathian conqueror. Alexander the Great, so called 
from Emathia, a part of Macedonia. 

11. house of Pindarus. When Alexander sacked Thebes he 
spared the house of the poet Pindar. 

12. repeated air. Lysander when he was about to destroy 

Athens was deterred by the chance singing of the chorus of 

Euripides. 

1644-1645 

To A Virtuous Young Lady 

(In Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 
In the summer of 1643 Milton made a journey into the 
country, and after a month returned with a wife. The event 
was attended with appropriate entertainment in the home in 
Aldersgate Street. The bride was Mary Powell of Forest Hill, 
which was within the forest of Shotover, in which Milton's 



NOTES 213 

grandfather had been under-ranger. It seems that the Powells 
and the Miltons had been together in busmess transactions, the 
estate at Forest Hill being mortgaged to the scrivener. 

It soon became evident that the marriage was an ill-considered 
one, for the Powells were lloyalists. The bride, nsed to the 
gaieties of Cavalier society, soon tired of the sober life with the 
Roundhead schoolmaster in London. The two became mutually 
repugnant to each other, as was natural in such a union of 
frivolity with thoughtfulness. We are not called upon to fix 
the responsibility here, but we are not to forget that with all his 
love of a studious life Milton had no little susceptibility to the 
charm of feminine beauty. A month after the marriage the 
wife begged permission to visit her old home. She went to 
Forest Hill in July, and as she showed no disposition to return 
to Aldersgate Street, Milton at first wrote, but getting no reply, 
despatched a messenger, who returned, " having been dismissed 
with some sort of contempt." The result of this act on the 
part of the wife was to turn Milton's attention to the institution 
of marriage, and he published anonymously the pamphlet The 
Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. Emerson says: " It is to 
be regarded as a poem on one of the gi'iefs of man's condition, 
unfit marriage. It should receive that charity which an angelic 
soul suffering more keenly than others from the unavoidable 
evils of human life is entitled to." In this he makes no mention 
of his personal case, but considers the principle as it were in 
the abstract. Pattison says : "His argument throughout glows 
with a white heat of concealed emotion." The stir occasioned 
by this pamphlet was widespread ; the Church party was glad 
that such a scandal had arisen in the Presbyterian family, and 
Milton went out from his own fold. Here is the beginning 
of the party known as Independents. Milton now reedited the 
pamphlet on Divorce, to which he signed his name, although it 
contained a daring address to Parliament. 

With this trying period in Milton's career is the sonnet To a 
Lady connected, if we accept the statements of Phillips, Mil- 
ton's nephew. The date of composition of this sonnet leads us 
naturally enough to the belief that Milton found consolation 



214 NOTES 

in the society of some noble women. The subject of the poem is, 

according to Pliillips, a Miss Davis, " a very handsome and witty 

gentlewoman." 

5. with Mary and with Ruth. Cf. Luke x. 47, and Euth 

i. 14. 

7. growing. The first reading of the MS. was " blooming." 
11. hope that reaps not shame. Cf. Bomaiis v. 5. 

. 12. when the Bridegroom, etc. Cf. Matthew xxv. 1. 

13. Passes to bliss. Heading of first Ms. was: ''Opens the 
door of bliss that hour of night." 

14. Virgin wise and pure. Cf. next sonnet, last lines. 

1644-1645 

To THE Lady Margaret Ley 

(In Milton's own hand iu the Cambridge MSS.) 

This sonnet belongs to the same period as the preceding and 
is equally rich in biographical and political interest. The lady 
here honored is another of those at whose home Milton was a wel- 
come guest. She was the daughter of James Ley, first Earl of 
Marlborough. She married a Captain Hobson, who was a fol- 
lower of the Parliamentarians. Phillips says: "Milton made 
it his chief diversion now and then of an evening to visit the 
Lady Margaret Ley, a woman of great wit and ingenuity, who 
had a particular honor for him, and took much delight in his 
company, as likewise Captain Hobson, her husband, a very 
accomplished gentleman." 

This was the last sonnet in the first edition of his poems pub- 
lished this year. It bore the motto, "Baccare frontem Cingite, 
ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro," " Gird my brow with nard, 
lest an evil tongue hurt the poet yet to be." 

5. Till the sad breaking, etc. Parliament was dissolved 
March 10, 1G29. The Earl died four years later. 

0. dishonest victory. The Athenian orator Isocrates is said 
to have died from the shock of the defeat of the Athenians and 
Thebans at Chceronea. 

9. later born. Milton here refers to the early years of the 



NOTES 215 

Earl's career, as he was twenty years old when the Earl died. 
(M.) 

1645-1673 

On the Detractiox which followed upox my Writing 
Certain Treatises 

(In Milton's own hand and copies in another hand in the Cambridge 

MSS.) 

The list of pamphlets was now increased by the tract On 
Education, Areopagitica, and three more on Divorce : Tlie 
Judgement of Martin Bucer, Tetrachordon and Colasterion. 
The last three were called forth by the attacks of his enemies. 
The first of these was a challenge to the Westminster Assembly 
which had assailed him as ' ' Divorcer ' ' ; the second was a 
review of the four chief places in Scripture where the subject 
of marriage is treated, and the third was a stinging reply to his 
assailants who were determined to suppress all of his sect. 

In the meantime the fortunes of the Royalists were waning, 
until at Naseby in June, 1645, defeat and ruin came at the 
hands of the new army of the Independents. By this defeat 
the Powells were made bankrupt, and in their distress they 
turned to Milton, whose star was in the ascendant. Some 
friends of both parties arranged by conspiracy a meeting of 
Milton and INIary Powell at a house where he often visited in 
St. Martins-le-Grand. When he entered she emerged from an 
adjoining room, threw herself at his feet and begged for recon- 
ciliation : 

" With tears that ceas'd not flowing 

And tresses all disorder'd, at his feet 

Fell humble, and embracing them, besought 

His peace 

Soon his heart relented 
Towards her, his life so late and sole delight 
Now at his feet submissive in distress ! 
Creature so fair his reconcilement seeking. 

At once disarmed, his anger all he lost." 

Paradise Lost, x. 937. 



216 NOTES 

He received not only her but the family of Powells as "svell, 
including the mother-in-law who probably encouraged the de- 
sertion. The house in Aldersgate Street had proved too small 
for his classes and he received the addition to his family in the 
house at Barbican. It was here that the sonnets On the De- 
traction were written. They continued the controversy raised 
by the pamphlets on Divorce. The fact that they were written 
after his wife had returned, and when he had lost some interest 
in the question, accounts for the fact that they are less violent 
than the retorts in prose. 

Lowell says: "Gentle as Milton's earlier portraits would 
seem to show him, he had in him by nature, or bred into him 
by fate, something of the haughty and defiant self-assertion of 
Dante and INIichaol Angelo." 

Emerson says: "Truly he was the apostle of freedom: of 
freedom in the home, in the state, in the church ; freedom of 
speech, freedom of the press, yet in his owm mind discrimi- 
nated from savage license, because that which he desired 
was the liberty of the wise containing itself in the limits of 
virtue." 

Mr. John Fiske says : "It was the ideas of Locke and Milton, 
of Vane and Sidney, that, when transplanted into French soil, 
produced that violent but salutary Revolution which has given 
fresh life to the European w^orld." 

1. In the Ms. this is " I writ a book," etc. 

4. Numbering. Attracting as readers. This line was in the 
Ms. : " Good wits, but now is seldom." 

5. stall-reader. Chance reader at book stalls. 

6. title page. "Have you seen Tet-Tetra-Tetra-whatfi its 
name?'' (M.) 

7. Mile-End Green. In Whitechapel, about a mile from the 
centre of Old London. 

8. Gordon, etc. INIilton intends to ridicule the barbarism of 
Scottish names in general. Masson says that more was in- 
tended ; that he hit the Scottish Presbyterians well known in 
London. Colkitto is Sir Alexander M'Donnel, knighted by 
IMontrose. 



NOTES 217 

Galasp, was probably Gillespie, a member of the Westminster 
Assembly. 

10. rugged. In the Ms. "rough hewn." 

11. Quintilian. A Latin rhetorician. 

12. l:]. Thy age, etc. Thy age did not hate learning as does 
ours. 

John Cheek. Teacher of Greek at Cambridge. He met with 
opposition from many of the unlearned. 

On the Same 

Where the preceding sonnet is playful, this is severe in indig- 
nation. 

4. cuckoos. In first draft this was " buzzards." 

5. those hinds, etc. Lycian rustics who, when Latona with 
her children Apollo and Diana in her arms fled from Juno, re- 
fused to let her drink of the water in a certain lake, and pud- 
dled the water, were turned into frogs and doomed to live in 
the muddy water. Cf. Ovid, 3Iet. vi. 337-381. Faerie Queene, 
II. xii. 13 : 

' ' Till that Latona travelling that way. 
Flying from Junoes wrath and hard assay, 
Of her fay re twins was there delivered. 
Which afterward did rule the night and day." 

7. in fee. Ownership, 

8. pearl to hogs. Cf. Matthew vii. 6. 

10. And still revolt, etc. This originally was, "And hate 
the truth whereby he should be free." Cf. John viii. 32, 

11, 12. Licence they mean, etc. Cf. Eikonoclastes, 1649 : 
' ' None can love Freedom heartily but good men : the rest love 
not Freedom, but License." 

13. rove. Shoot wide of. Cf. Faerie Queene, I., Introd. 2 : 

"Fair Venus sonne, that with thy cruell dart 
At thy good knight so cunningly didst rove." 

14. for. Notwithstanding. 



218 NOTES 

1646-1673 

On the New Forcers of Conscience 

(Copy in the hand of an amanuensis in the Cambridge MSS.) 

Milton's father died in March of tliis year and was buried in 
St. Giles', Cripplegate. As is the case with Burns, Carlyle, 
Wordsworth, and Tennyson, Milton owed as much to the 
father's influence as to the mother's. He has acknowledged 
his gratitude to him in prose and verse. In prose he praises 
"the ceaseless diligence and care of a father whom God recom- 
pense"; and in a Latin poem, Ad Patrem^ written at Horton, 
there is a warmth of genuine piety and noble regard. 

The Independents were now a powerful party and determined 
to espouse freedom of conscience against the system of Pres- 
byterian Church Government which represented ' ' No Tolera- 
tion," and the suppression of all sects not in uniformity. 
Against this intolerance Milton raised his voice in this poem. 
Masson says : "He intended it to be what may be called an 
Anti-Presbyterian and Pro-Toleration sonnet. But when he 
had reached the fourteenth line, Milton had not packed in it all 
he meant to say ; and so added six lines more of jagged verse, 
converting the piece into a kind of sonnet with a scorpion's tail 
to it. Although not published till 1673 it was probably in pri- 
vate circulation doing service for Independency and Liberty of 
Conscience from 1646 onwards." 

Greene says : "There was one thing dearer to England than 
free speech in Parliament, than security of property, or even 
personal liberty ; and that one thing was, in the phrase of the 
day, the Gospel.'''' 

1. thrown off, etc. Alluding to the throwing off of Episco- 
pacy by the Long Parliament. 

3. To seize, etc. To imitate the Episcopal Prelates in holding 
plurality of livings, such as parochial revenues and University 
Posts, etc. 

5. Dare ye adjure, etc. The Presbyterians had demanded 
that Episcopacy be abolished, that the Presbytery be established, 



NOTES 219 

and that violations of tlie latter should be punished by the 
state. 
0. our consciences. Ms. has "the" for "our." 

7. Classic Hierarchy. The Presbyterian church courts. 

8. A. S. Adam Stewart, a Scottish defender of the Presby- 
tery against the Independents. 

Rutherford (Samuel). The well-known Scottish divine. 

12. shallow Edwards. Thomas Edwards, a London preacher 
who opposed the Independents. In the original, " shallow " was 
" haire-brainVl." 

Scotch What-d'ye-call. Rev. Robert Baillie of the University 
of Oxford. 

] 4. packings, etc. By which the Assembly was unduly con- 
stituted. 

17. clip your phylacteries, etc. Parliament was the only 
hope of the Independents and those seeking freedom in matters 
of religion. 

baulk. Stop at. That is, ' ' cut away the badge of sanctity, 
yet not mutilate as you would do to us heretics if you could." 
Milton first wrote for this line : ' ' Crop ye as close as marginal 

P 'seares." Alluding to Prynne, whose ears were cut off 

(for his Anti-Prelatic writings) by order of Laud, and who was 
wont to fill the margins of his books with quotations. 

20. Presbyter is but old Priest, etc. Priest is a contraction 
of the Greek word Preshyteros, an Elder. 

1646-1648-1673 

To Mr. H. Lawes on his Airs 

(Two copies in Milton's own hand and one in another's in the 
Cambridge MSS.) 

We have already seen something of Mr. Lawes in our study 
of Arcades and Comus. What interests us here is that we have 
evidence of the continued friendship of Milton and Lawes, 
although one was an Independent and the other a Royalist. 
This sonnet, written in February, 1046, was first printed in a 
volume entitled Choice Psalmes, put into Musick for three 



220 NOTES 

voices : compoftcd by Henri/ and WiUiani Lawrs, Brothers and 
Servants to His Majestie, published in 1G48. The poem was 
probably given to Lawes at the time it was written, as a pledge 
of friendship in return for the use of his name in connection 
with Arcades and Comus. As Lawes had set to music many 
songs which became very popular, Milton associated his name 
with the first publication of his poems, 1G45, and the title-page 
bore the following: "The Songs were set in Musick by Mr. 
Henry Lawes, Gentleman of the King's Chappel and one of His 
Magesties private Musick." The allusion was of course to the 
songs in Arcades and Comus. 

Lawes lived until after the Restoration. He was returned to 
his royal position and composed the Ode for the Coronation of 
Charles II. at the time when Milton was blind and in hiding. 
He died in 1062 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. 

3. Words with just note, etc. This line has two earlier 
forms : " Words with just notes which till then used to scan," 
and, " Words with just notes when most were wont to scan." 

4. Midas' ears. Alluding to the ass's ears which Apollo 
gave Midas for his lack of sense in awarding the palm to Pan 
against Apollo in the contest of music. Cf. Ovid, 3Iet. xi. 174. 

committing. Confounding. At first the word w^as "mis- 
joining." 

5. exempts. Precludes your being of that class who mistake 
"short for long." 

0-8. These lines originally were : 

" And gives thee praise above the pipe of Pan : 
In after age thou shalt be writ a man 
That didst reform thy art, the chief among." 

11. or story. This is explained by a marginal note to the 
sonnet as it was prefixed to Lawes' Choice Psalmes : "The 
story of Ariadne set by him to musick." (M.) 

12, 13. These lines in first form were : 

" Fame, by the Tuscan's leave, shall set thee higher 
Than old Casell, whom Dante wooed to sing." 



NOTES 221 

Cf. Dante, Furgatorio, ii. Dante meets his old friend Casella, 
the musician, and asks him to sing. 

' ' If new law taketh not from thee 
Memory or custom of love-turned song, 
That whilom all my cares had power to 'swage ; 
Please thee therewith a little to console 
My spirit, that encumber' d with its fame. 
Traveling so far, of pain is overcome," etc. 

14. milder. That is, than those of Purgatory. 



1646-1673 

! ■;= 

On the Religious Memory of Mrs. Catherine Thomson 

■/•■ 
(Two copies in Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 

Notwithstanding the bitterness of controversy Milton found 
opportunity to indulge in the most delightful personal friend- 
ships, of one of which this sonnet is a memorial. Pattison says : 
" Now, out of all the clamour and the bitterness of sects, he can 
retire and be alone with his heavenly aspirations which have 
lost none of their ardour by having laid aside all their sectari- 
anism. ' ' 

3. earthy. Some editions have the corrupted form ' ' earthly. ' ' 
load. Originally "clod." 

4. Of death, etc. The original rendering was : 

" Of flesh and sin, which man from heaven doth sever." 

5. Thy works. Cf. Acts x. 4, and Rev. xiv. 13. 

6-10. Stayed not behind, etc. Originally these lines were : 

" Straight followed thee the path that saints have trod ; 
Still as they journeyed from this dark abode 
Up to the realms of peace and joy for ever, 
Faith showed the way, and she, who saw them best 
Thy handmaids," etc. 



222 NOTES 

1648-1693-1713 

On the Lokd General Fairfax 

(In Milton's own hand in the Cambridge MSS.) 

About Michaelmas, 1647, Milton gave up taking pupils and 
moved to a smaller house in High Holborn, opening into Lin- 
coln's Inn Fields. Cromwell and Fairfax had marched through 
London, and the flight of Charles I. from Hampton Court to the 
Isle of Wight soon followed, Milton was studiously employed 
in literary work, planning a LatiJi Dictionary, a Complete His- 
tory of England and a Digest of Christian Doctrine: so nuich 
did his love of letters precede his Republicanism. He also 
translated nine Psalms, Ixxx.-lxxxviii, 

The English and Scottish Royalists rose in behalf of Charles, 
now a prisoner at the Isle of Wight. This uprising was the 
Second Civil War. Cromwell met and -defeated the northern 
Royalists (Scots) at Preston, and Fairfax laid siege to Col- 
chester, a town which had been seized by the Royalists. It 
surrendered after three months and the fame of Fairfax seemed 
complete. It was in celebration of this great victory that Mil- 
ton wrote this sonnet. 

It should be remembered that Fairfax would not approve of 
the execution of Charles, which took place January 30, 1649, 
and the following year he resigned his office and retired to 
private life. Although Milton defended the execution, yet he 
did not forget to pay Fairfax his tribute as late as 1654, for in 
his Defensio Secunda he alluded to him as "a man in whom 
nature and the divine favour have joined with the greatest forti- 
tude a modesty and a purity of life equally great." Besides 
being a great general, Fairfax was a man of taste and learning. 
It was by his care that the great Bodleian library was saved at 
the surrender of Oxford, 1646. His retirement from office 
was largely due to his desire to live in the quiet of delightful 
studies, and he became a competitor of Milton in the paraphrase 
of the Psalms. 

The sonnet was first printed (and badly printed) in Phillips' 



NOTES 223 

Life of Milton. It is not in tlie edition of 1673 because of its 
" pre-Restoration " ideas. It was first printed in Milton's 
works in 1713. 
2. Filling. Phillips lias " and fills.'' 

4. that. Phillips has "which." 

5. virtue. Phillips has " valour." 
0. though. Phillips has " while." 

7. the false North. Parliament considered the work of the 
Scotch army in the North as a breach of the Solemn League and 
Covenant. 

8. imp. To piece out, mend. Cf. Bichard II. ii. 1 : "Imp 
out our drooping country's broken wing." 

their. Phillips has "her." 

10. endless war. Phillips has " acts of war." 

11. truth and right. Phillips has " injured truth." 

12. cleared from, etc. Phillips has "be rescued from the 
brand." 

14. share. Phillips has " shares. " 

How Phillips' copy came to differ so much from the origi- 
nal Ms. is not known. It went unchallenged until 1752, when 
Newton went back to the Ms. 

1652-1694-1713 

To THE Lord General Cromwell 

(In the hand of an amanuensis in the Cambridge MSS.) 

After the execution of the King in January, 1649, the power 
was centred in the Council of State. This Council needed for 
Secretary one who could translate the State papers, and it is 
not surprising that they turned to Milton, who had lately de- 
fended their action in the pamphlet. Tenure of Kings and 
Magistrates. Here a new world opened to him. He would be 
a companion of the great men whom he admired — of Fairfax, 
Cromwell, and Vane. On March 15, 1649, he was inducted 
into office. As High Holborn was inconveniently distant from 
his desk, he moved to Petty France in AVestminster, opening 
into St. James Park,, where he lived until the Restoration. 



224 NOTES 

Hcsidcs translatint;' dospatclu's he was the censor of the ollicial 
ori;-aii, llic McrcKn'iis roliticKs, and lie was expected to reply to 
a.ny attacks made ui)oii the i;-o\('niiiuMit. lie i-etunied the tiro 
of Gaudeifs Kikoti BaniUkc, in hJikoiioklastcs, and of Salnia- 
sius' Dcfcnsio liegia, in Pro Popiilo Anglkano Dc/eiisio. In 
tliis close application he injured his eyesiu,ht. 

Tlie latest acts of Crouiweirs career before he was made I'ro- 
tectoi- wore his conduct of the canipaii2,n in Ireland and Scotlaml, 
and his victory at Worcester, wlu'U tlu> cause of CMiarles II. was 
ruim>d in Scotland. He was in London when this sonnet was 
written. Kt'li^ious sects were (daniorin;;' for the enactnienl of 
their narrow conceptions of Church (Jovernment ; a, new Estab- 
lished Church wasdesired, and Milton in this sonnet calU'd upon 
Cromwell to resist the movenuMd. 

Tlu" (piestion naturally arises, What was Cromwell's opinion 
of MilUui'.' INlr. .Vu^ustinc Hirrell says : '' There is iiothinL:; to 
prove that Cromwell and Milton, the botly and soul of KnjAiish 
Hepnblicanism, wi're ever in the same room toi;ctlu'r, or ex- 
chani;'e(l words with one another." ISalnrally there could be 
but little in comnum between the two nu'U, exct>pt tlie (juestion 
of thi' Commonwt^a-lth, and even here then' was wot vul'wc har- 
nu)ny of feidinj;. Milton nuist have felt there was some cause 
fin- fear that Cromwell would not be tolerant, or he would not 
have written this sonnet. That his fears were well grounded is 
proved by subseiiuent events and the (Estrangement of Vane. 
This sonnet and that to Vane are singularly beautiful illustra- 
tions of the catholicity of Milton the poet, as some of his prose 
pamphlets are eipially revelations i»f Milton the partisan. 

'' We nuist be free or dii>, who spt'ak the tongue 
That Shakespeare spoki', the faith and morals hold 
That Milton held." Wohpswoktu. 

Of the varii)us estimates of the character of Cromwell, tlu>se 
representing the farthest extremes are by Clarendon and Carlyle. 
Clarendon believed that posterity would look upon C^romwell 
as a ''brave bad nnin" ; while Carlyle thought it would i-on- 
sider him in the character of "a prophetic man; a man witli 



NOTES 225 

Ills whole soul seeimj and strug<:^ling to see." The golden mean 
between these opinions has not yet been reached. 

'I'liis soiniet was lirst printed l)y Phillips in 1004, in his Life 
of Milton, and varies much from the copy in Ms. by the hand 
of an amanuensis. 

1, 2. cloud not of war only, etc. " Nubeni beUi." Cf. 
JEneid, x. 80U. — Nkwton. 

detractions. Phillips has "distractions." 

5. crowned Fortune. An allusion to King Charles and his 
family, and the battle of Worcester. (K.) 

This line was omitted from Phillips' copy. 

6. Hast reared, etc. Phillips has — 

" And fought God's battles, and his work pursued." 

7. Darwen. A river in Lancashire, near which the battle of 
Preston was fought. 

8. Dunbar field. Where Cromwell fought the famous battle 
of Dunbai', beating the Scots, and joined Scotland to the Eng- 
lish Commcm wealth. (M.) 

1). Worcester's laureate wreath. Cromwell's crowning vic- 
tory of Sept. o, 1(J51. The Ms. reads — 

" And twenty battles more : yet much remains." 

The change was made by I*hillips, but from what is not known. 

12. secular chains. Milton feared these chains of the Pres- 
byterians as much as he did the ecclesiastical chains of the 
Royalists. 

14. hireling wolves. Nothing better illustrates Milton's in- 
dependence than does this charge and the similar one in Lycidas 
against the Episcx)palians. 

1652-1694-1713 

To Sir Hbnuy Vane tuk Younger 

(Copy from Milton's dictation in the Cambridge MSS.) 

The dramatic career of Sir Henry Vane falls into four acts : 

First, the period of youth ; second, his service in New Eng- 

Q 



226 NOTES 

land ; third, his association with Cromwell in the Civil War ; 
and fourth, his revolt against the usurpation of Cromwell. 

No English statesman had a clearer insight into what consti- 
tutes civil and religious liberty, a more unselfish purpose to de- 
fend the right as God had given him power to see it, a greater 
Christian fortitude to bear the pain of tyrannical and cruel 
death. 

At the time Milton wrote this sonnet Vane was a distinguished 
member of the Council of State. The breach between Crom- 
well and Vane, caused by Vane's refusal to approve of the exe- 
cution of the King, and his noble stand for toleration of all sects, 
even the Catholics, was growing wider and wider. 

Vane had said in Parliament : ' ' Why should the labours of 
any be suppressed, if sober, though never so different ? We 
now profess to seek God, we desire to see light." Roger 
Williams, who had spent some weeks with Vane at his country 
house in Lincolnshire consulting him upon the Puritan persecu- 
tion of the Friends in New England, called this a ' ' heavenly 
speech." 

The army was devoted to Cromwell ; by its aid Parliament 
was to be dissolved, and in the election of a new Parliament 
none who fought on the losing side, whether Koyalist or Presby- 
terian, should have any part. Vane stood for the rule of Par- 
liament, that it should dissolve itself, or that Cromwell should 
act as the servant of Parliament. Conferences were held, but 
Cromwell grew more and more determined in his disposition to 
rule by the sword. On the 20th of April, 1653, when Vane was 
speaking in the House upon the bill for dissolution, Cromwell 
entered with a body of soldiers. When the question was about 
to be put he rose and poured out a torrent of invective, " speak- 
ing," says Ludlow, "with so much passion and discomposure, 
as if he had been distracted." Vane and others attempted to 
reply, but were met with a prompt command from Cromwell : 
"Come, come, I'll put an end to your prating. You are no 
Parliament. I'll put an end to your sitting. Begone!" As 
Vane left the House he passed Cromwell and said, " This is not 
honest! Yea, it is against morality and common honesty!" 



NOTES 227 

To this Cromwell shouted, " Sir Harry Vane ! Sir Harry Vane ! 
The Lord deliver me from Sir Harry Vane ! ' ' 

Vane retired to his estate at Raby Castle and lived with his 
family and those studies so dear to him, waiting for the next 
call to defend the Cause. He wrote a treatise entitled A Heal- 
ing Question, " in which he proposed," says John Forster, "for 
the first time in the records of history that expedient of organ- 
izing a government in certain fundamentals not to be dispensed 
with, which was thought visionary and impracticable until the 
world learned to venerate the name of Washington." Crom- 
well ordered his arrest, and imprisoned him at the Isle of AVight 
for about four months. After the death of Cromwell in 1658 he 
was returned to Parliament. At the Restoration he was arrested, 
and on June 14, 1662, was beheaded for the very act which he 
never approved — the execution of Charles I. His last words 
were : " I bless the Lord who has accounted me worthy to suffer 
for his name." Milton did not dare print this and the preced- 
ing sonnet in his edition of 1673. 

Whittier, in his poem The King's Missive, alluded to the 
treatment of the Friends at the hands of New P^ngland Puritans. 
Rev. George E. Ellis criticised the ballad in that (as he thought) 
it was not historically accurate. In Whittier's reply to this 
criticism he says : "With the single exception of the Friends, 
every sect in Christendom believed in the right of the magistrate 
to punish heresy. There were indeed individuals, and among 
the noblest of the age, who sympathized with the persecuted 
Friends, and exerted themselves for their relief — such men as 
Sydney and Vane, Milton and Marvel. . . . But these were 
solitary exceptions." — Life and Letters of John Greenleaf 
Whittier, Vol. II., Appendix. 

Mr. John Fiske says : "It is pleasant to remember that one 
of the greatest Puritan statesmen of that heroic age, the man 
who dared even to withstand Cromwell at the height of his 
power when his measures became too violent, — that this admir- 
able man was once the chief magistrate of an American Common- 
wealth. Thorough republican and enthusiastic lover of liberty, 
lie was spiritually akin to Jefferson and to Samuel Adams. ' ' 



228 NOTES 

John Forster says : " During the progress of Vane's brilliant 
administration of the government, Milton addressed to him his 
famous sonnet ; and at the same time, as if with the view of 
composing these fatal differences between them, which threat- 
ened the state with calamity, by showing how the glories of 
each might be celebrated by the same impartial pen, the divine 
poet forwarded another, not less famous sonnet, to Cromwell." 

Cf. The /Statesmen of the Commonwealth^ John Forster ; 
Chief Actors in the Puritan Bevolution, Peter Bayne. 

The sonnet was lirst printed by Phillips, but with few varia- 
tions from the Ms. 

1. counsel. Phillips has "councels." 

J>, 4. when gowns, etc. Alluding to the fact tliat it was the 
wisdom of statesmen, not skill of generals, that saved Rome 
from Pyrrhus and Hannibal. 

" It is the authors more than the diplomats, who make nations 
love one another.'" — Tennyson {3Iemoir). 

(). hollow states. The States of Holland, the relations of 
which to the Connnon wealth were not explicit. (M.) 

7-14. Then to advise, etc;. Phillips has for these lines : 

" Then to advise how war may best be upheld, 
Manu'd by her own main nerves, iron and gold. 

In all her ei|uipage : besides, to know. 
Both spiritual and civil, what each means. 
What serves each, thou hast learnM, what few have done. 

The bounds of either sword to thee we owe ; 
Therefore on thy right hand Religion leans, 
And reckons thee in chief her eldest son." 

The Cambridge copy as dictated by Milton has several correc- 
tions. For "Then to advise" in line 7 there had been first 
dictated "And to advise"; for "Move by" in Hue 8, "Move 
on " ; instead of the present lines 10-11, the following : 

" What power the Church and what the Civil means 
Thou teachest best, which few have ever done. 



NOTES 22\) 



Alt(>rod later to 



'• lioth spiritual power and eivil, what each means 
'riioii hast learned \V(>II, a praise whit-h few ha\t> won." 

And for 'Minn hand," line l.'>, " riiAlit hand." (iM.) 

1655-1673 
On thk Latk Massacki: in riiODMONT 

At the close oi" the year 1()")2, and soon after Cromwell had 
decided to dissolve rarliament, a book was ])ublislied anony- 
mously at lla>;ne entitled licijii S(iii</i(inis Cloinor, ''Cry 
of the King's blood to Heaven against tlu' I<hii;lish I'anicides.'" 
It, was dtMlicaied to Charles II., and in the dedication Milton is 
alluded to as that, ^'■monster, /((/It/, hideous, huge, beveft of 
si(/ht.'' The author of this scurrilous volumi; was supposed to 
be one Morns, but lati>r it was revealed that he was only an 
ageid and that the author was I'l'ter Du Moulin, an ex-recb)r 
in Yorkshire. 

Milton at this time was totally blind. 

''So thick a drop serene hath (lUcnchM these orbs, 
Or dim suffusion veil'd." 

lie was in ill health and niourninu' for the loss of his wife and 
little boy, — dohu- nnntterablc. lie did not reply to Chitnor 
until KJ;")!, when lu^ published Dejritsio tSeniiidd. It. was a 
l)itiless attack on his old eiUMiiy Salmasius, Morns, anil Ulac the 
jtrintcr of Clamor. 

Mr. Stojjford Hrooke says: "Again and again, like an un- 
sati'd shark, Milton returns to tlu^ charges to draw fresh blood 
from his di'ad and living foes ; it is the most merciless thing in 
our literature." 

It was after this controversy had subsided that Milton com- 
posed this noble soimet and the four which follow it. All are 
revelations of a lofty spirit; they have the charm of majestic 
nmsic and solenni beauty. 

Mr. Kicharil Garnett says : "This sonnet is the most memo- 



230 NOTES 

rable example in our language of the fire and pasvsion which 
may inspire a poetical form which some have deemed only fit to 
celebrate a ' mistress' eyebrow.' " 

In January, 1655, the Turin Government decided to make the 
Protestant inhabitants of certain Piedmontese valleys conform 
to the Catholic religion. They were ordered to quit the country 
in three clays under pain of death unless they chose to change 
their religion. They remonstrated, but to no purpose. On the 
17th of April the brutal soldiery was let loose upon the unarmed 
and defenceless people. They revelled in lust, murder and 
plunder. When the news reached England a cry of hori'or 
went up ; a day of humiliation was appointed ; collections were 
called for, £40,000 was raised, and an envoy sent to remon- 
strate with the Duke of Savoy. Cromwell was in earnest, and 
the result was a treaty by which the survivors were to be pro- 
tected and accorded the right to worship as they desired. 

Mr. John Fiske says: "Everywhere else the Roman idea 
seemed to have conquered or to be conquering ; while they (the 
Puritans) seemed to be left as the forlorn hope of the human 
race. But from the very day when Oliver Cromwell reached 
forth his mighty arm to stop the persecutions in Savoy, the vic- 
torious English idea began to change the face of things. . . . 
It has come to rule, it has come to stay." 

Masson says: "This sonnet is Milton's private and more 
tremendous expression in verse of the feeling he expressed 
publicly, in Cromwell's name in his Latin State Letters. Every 
line labors with wrath." 

Macaulay says : ' ' The noble poem on the massacres of Pied- 
mont is strictly a collect in verse." 

'' It recalls," says Mr. C. T>. Deshler, " the style of the Lesser 
Prophets, which it rivals in the magnificence of its imprecations. 
Like them it burns with holy wrath and unforgiving zeal. It 
pulsates vehemently with the old Hebrew spirit of retributive 
vindictiveness. " 

In many of Wordsworth's sonnets dedicated to Liberty we 
have strains as solemn and magnificent, of which the following 
is a type : 



NOTES 231 

ON THE SUBJUGATION OF SWITZERLAND 

Two Voices are there ; one is of the sea, 

One of the mountains ; each a mighty Voice : 

In both from age to age thou didst rejoice, 

They were thy chosen music, Liberty ! 

There came a Tyrant, and with holy glee 

Thou fought' st against him ; but hast vainly striven : 

Thou from thy Alpine holds at length art driven, 

Where not a torrent murmurs heard by thee. 

Of one deep bliss thine ear hath been bereft : 

Then cleave, O cleave to that which still is left ; 

For, higli-souled Maid, what sorrow would it be 

That Mountain floods should thunder as before, 

And Ocean bellow from his rocky shore, 

And neither awful Voice be heard by thee ! 

Archbishop Trench says : " Wordsworth's sonnets to Liberty 

are filled with trumpet-notes, for in his hands also, as in Milton's 

before him, 

' the thing became a trumpet. ' ' ' 

5. in thy book, etc. Cf. Psalms Ivi. 

7. that rolled, etc. AVarton alludes to an account of the 
massacre by Sir W. Moreland, where there is a print showing 
this cruelty. (M.) 

10. martyred blood, etc. An adaptation of Tertullian's — 

" Sanguis martyrum semen est Ecclesise." 

12. triple Tyrant. The Pope with his triple crown. Milton 
in his Latin poem In Quintum Novembris called the crown 
" Tri-coronif er. " 

14, the Babylonian woe. The Puritans regarded the Church 
of Rome as the mystical Babylon of the Apocalypse. Cf. Bev. 
xvii., xviii. 

1655-1673 

On his Blindness 

That Milton became totally blind in 1652 is evident from the 
fact that the sonnets of that year to Cromwell and Vane are not 



232 NOTES 

in his own liand. Tlie reason that the sonnet on his blindness 
was not written eariier may be due to the fact tliat he had been 
devoting all his powers to the replies to Clamor. He had now 
completed the last of these — the Fro se Defensio. He had 
been made a subject of scorn and coarse jest in the Clamor., 
and his enemies at home taunted him with suffering the just 
judgment of God for his conduct in the affairs of Church and 
State. We must believe that these things at times caused him 
to be depressed. Masson says : " Again and again in Milton's 
later writings in prose and verse there are passages of the most 
touching sorrow over his darkened and desolate condition." 
When we consider how intense was Milton's nature: how bitter 
was his disposition when attacked ; how proud he was, and 
with what impatience he bore some of the domestic infelicities 
for which he alone was responsible, we are amazed at the lofty 
serenity and the holy resignation which this poem reveals." 

Mr. Stopford Brooke says: "Having done with personal 
wars, he looked forward always to the time when he might 
let himself loose, and, leaving the disputes and passions of 
earth, soar into the poetic air in which alone he breathed 
with ease and pleasure and triumph. He loved the solenni 
beauty of lofty thought more than any man in England has 
ever loved it. " 

Lowell says : " There is hardly a more stately figure in liter- 
ary history than Milton's, no life in some of its aspects more 
tragical, except Dante's. In both these great poets, more than 
in any others, the character of the man makes part of the sin- 
gular impressiveness of what they wrote, and of its vitality in 
after times." 

In the Tractate on Education Milton had said that the read- 
ing of the masters would reveal to pupils "what religious, what 
glorious and magnificent use might be made of Poetry, both in 
divine and human things." When he wrote this he little 
thought that his own "glorious and magnificent " poetry would 
be the highest revelation of the divine and the human ; that it 
would inspire the same calm and steady heroism in others when 
facing the pitiless storm. Cf. Paradise Lost., iii. 41-44 : 



NOTES 233 

" Seasons return ; but not to me returns 
Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn 
Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose. 
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine." 

It vsras this magnificent spectacle which perhaps more than 
any other fortified Wordsworth against malignant truth or lie, 
and enabled him to be strong in himself and powerful to give 
strength. In the following, which Wordsworth wished prefixed 
to every edition of his works, we have the keynote of his spirit. 

" If thou indeed derive thy light from Heaven, 
Then to the measure of that heaven-born light, 
Shine, Poet, in thy place, and be content. 
The stars pre-eminent in magnitude, 
And they that from the zenith dart their beams, 
(Visible though they be to half the earth. 
Though half a sphere be conscious of their brightness) , 
Are yet of no diviner origin, 
No purer essence, than the one that bums, 
Like an untended watch-fire on the ridge 
Of some dark mountain ; or than those which seem 
Humbly to hang, like twinkling winter lamps, 
Among theAranches of the leafless trees. 
Then to the measure of the light vouchsafed, 
Shine, Poet, in thy place, and be content." 

2. Ere half my days. Milton's eyesight began to fail several 
years before he became totally blind in 1652. 

3. one talent. Cf. Matthew xxv. 14. 

" That first gi'eat gift, the vital soul." 

Wordsworth, Prehide^ 1. 

8. fondly. Foolishly. 

12. thousands, etc. Cf. Spenser, Hymn of Heavenly Love : 

"There they in their trinal triplicities 
About him wait and on his will depend," etc. 



/" 



234 NOTES 

1655-1673 

To Mil. Lawrence 

We must not forget that Milton was not on intimate terms 
with the scholars of his time. He had no political friendships ; 
and as he was not connected with any place of worship he had 
no spiritual adviser. By reason of his physical infirmity and 
by the character of his mind and heart he was solitary. ' ' No 
grander figure," says Mr. Stopford Brooke, "stands forth in 
the whole of English literature, scarcely any grander in English 
history, than the figure of this blind, resolute, eloquent man. " 
He possessed those independent solaces 

' ' To mitigate the injurious sway of place 
Or circumstance hoAv far-soever changed, 
Or to be changed in after years." 

As the tumult and bitterness of personal strife dies away 
there come instead those revelations of tender sympathy and 
loving regard which are full of the deepest interest. "His 
house in Petty France was sought by distinguished foreigners 
and Londoners of rank," says Masson, "but most assiduous of 
all were former pupils and other enthusiastic young men, who 
accounted it a privilege to read to him, or act as his amanuenses, 
and to hear him talk. ' ' # 

Phillips says that among the particular friends who visited 
him thus was "Young Lawrence, to whom there is a sonnet 
among the rest of his printed poems." He was a son of Henry 
Lawrence of St. Ives, Westmoreland, President of Cromwell's 
Council. 

The glimpse into the life of Milton at tliLs time is altogether 
delightful. What treasures were placed within the reach of 
these young men ! 

' ' Of knowledge graced 
By Fancy, what a rich repast ! " 

Mr. Richard Garnett says: "This sonnet gives a pleasing 
picture of the British Homer in his Horatian hour." 
6. Favonius. Zephyrus, the west wind. 



NOTES 235 

8. that neither sowed nor spun. Cf. Matthew vi. 26-29. 
10. Of Attic taste. Cf. Horace, Book IV. Ode xii., To Virgil : 

"Virgil, haste, 
Comrade of noble youths, and taste 
Choice wines of Cales : my reward 
One little shell of Syrian nard." 

13, 14. and spare to interpose, etc. Refrain from interpos- 
ing them oft. (M.) Cf. Horace, Epode ii., Beatus ille : 

" Wliat man would change the sober joys 
For cares that fret or love that cloys." 

1655-1673-1713 

To Cyriack Skinner 
(Last ten lines in the hand of an amauuensis in the Cambridge MSS.) 

The subject of this and the following sonnet was the son of a 
Lincolnshire squire. He was ' ' an ingenious young gentleman 
and pupil of Jo: Milton," says Wood. Masson gives other evi- 
dences of Milton's intimacy with him, and reveals the fact that 
probably a relative of Cyriack's became Milton's amanuensis in 
the last years of his life, and that he was intrusted with certain 
State papers and the De Doctrina Christiana for publication. 
As the latter could not be published in England, "being mis- 
chievous to the Church or the State," it was sent to Amsterdam. 
Skinner, who was a member of Trinity College, Cambridge, was 
ordered not to allow it published on pain of expulsion. It was 
finally returned to the Secretary of State and deposited in the 
State Papers Office, where it remained until 1823. It was pub- 
lished in 1825. The Treatise in the original Ms. is partly in Skin- 
ner's hand and partly in others corrected by him, and is still in 
the State Papers Office. 

Ten lines of this sonnet are in the Cambridge Mss. and are 
upon a leaf torn from some other volume ; the paper is the same 
quality and size as that used for the Treatise. (M.) 

Emerson, in his Essay, John Milton^ written in 1838, says : 
" The discovery of the last work of John Milton in 1823 drew a 



236 NOTES 

sudden attention to his name. For a short time the literary 
journals were filled with disquisitions on his genius ; new 
editions of his works and new compilations of his life were 
published. '^ 

It should not be forgotten that Macaulay's famous essay on 
Milton in the Edinburgh Bevieiv, 1825, was occasioned by the 
discovery of this Treatise. As to the reason for making it the 
occasion of the essay he says : 

"The dextrous Capuchins never choose to preach on the life 
and miracles of a saint, till they have awakened the devotional 
feelings of their auditors by exhibiting some relic of him, a 
thread of his garment, a lock of his hair, or a drop of his blood. 
On the same principle we intend to take advantage of the late 
interesting discovery, and, while this memorial of a great and 
good man is in the hands of all, to say something of his moral 
and intellectual qualities." 

2. Themis. Goddess of law. 

7. Euclid, etc. Skinner was interested in mathematics and 
physical science. 

8. what the Swede intend, etc. An allusion to the wars of 
Charles XII. of Sweden against Russia, Poland and Denmark, 
and the wars of Louis XIV. in the Netherlands. 

12-14. disapproves that care, etc. Cf. Horace, Book II. 
Ode xviii. : 

Non ebur neque aureum. 

" Simple and true I share with all 
The treasures of a kindly mind ; 
And in my cottage, poor and small, 
The great a welcome tind." 

1655-1694-1713 

To THE Same 

(Copy in the hand of an amanuensis in the Cambridge MSS.) 

This was first printed by Phillips in his Life of Milton, 1694. 
"In the Cambridge Ms. this sonnet is on tlie same leaf as 
the copy of the last, but in a different hand," says Masson. 



NOTES 237 

Professor Edward Dowden says: "Milton's inner life, of 
which his poetry is an expression, as*his prose is an expression 
of his outer, public life, was an unceasing tending from evil to 
good, from base or common to noble, a perpetual aspiration to 
moral greatness." If we are familiar with the course of Mil- 
ton's life since lG-"32, when he wrote his first sonnet, we cannot 
fail to realize what a struggle it was. In the sonnet on his 
blindness we have his willingness to serve by waiting ; here is 
his determination to serve by working. 

Lowell says : " Milton never was fairly in his element till he 
got off the soundings of prose and felt the long swell of his verse 
under him like a steed that knows his rider. ... In those 
poems and passages that stamp him great, the verses do not 
dance interweaving to soft Lydian airs, but march rather with 
resounding tread and clang of martial music." 

This sonnet was not printed in edition of 1G73 because of its 
political ideas. 

1. this three years' day. Cf. note to On his Blindness. 

3. light, rhillips gives "sight." 

4. sight. Phillips gives "day." 

5. Of. Phillips gives "or." 

7. Heaven's hand. Milton first had " God's hand." 

8. bear up and. Milton first had " attend to." 

9. Right onward. Milton first had " Uphillward." 

10. conscience. Feeling. 

12. rings. Milton has "talks," corrected by Phillips to 
"rings." 

1658-1673 

On his Deceased Wife 

(In the hand of an amanuensis in the Cambridge MSS.) 

In November, 1056, Milton married Catherine Woodcock, 
daughter of Captain Woodcock of Hackney, and the house in 
Petty France was lighted up with the presence of a genial and 
sympathetic woman. 

llis labors as Secretary were now somewhat relieved by the 
appointment of Andrew Marvel as assistant. It seems that 



238 NOTES 

Milton's fame as champion of liberty had spread abroad, for Au- 
brey says that he was urged to come to France and Italy, where 
he was offered "great preferments." Many foreigners visited 
England "to see the house and chamber where he was born." 
It was a time of quiet and he was meditating his flight "above 
the Aeonian Mount" in Paradise Lost. He writes to a friend: 
" I am glad to know that you are assured of my tranquil spirit 
in this great affliction of the loss of sight, and also of the 
pleasure I have in being civil and attentive in the reception of 
visitors from abroad. Why, in truth, should I not gently bear 
the loss of sight when I may hope that it is not so much lost as 
retracted inwards for the sharpening rather than the blunting 
of my mental edge." But the blessing of sympathetic and 
tender attentions from a partner in his joys and sorrows was 
not long to be his, for earjy in 1G58 his wife died in childbirth, 
and the infant daughter lived but a month. Left with his three 
young daughters, the eldest only twelve, in his despondency he 
would wander from room to room and recall the pleasant hours 
spent with her in whose person shone that ' love, sweetness 
and goodness' which for one year had made him strangely 
happy. We may fancy him stopping at the doors where his 
heart was used to beat so quickly, and 

" Waiting for a hand, 
A hand that can be clasp'd no more, — 
Behold him, for he cannot sleep." 

In his dreams he sees her whom in his waking hours he was 
not permitted to gaze upon. 

In the In Memoriam Tennyson reveals a similar experience 
during his day dreams : 

" So word by word, and line by line, 

The dead man touch 'd me from the past, 
And all at once it seem'd at last 
His living soul was flash'd on mine." 

She was buried in St. ^largaret's, Westminster. 

In 1887 Mr. George W. Childs of Philadelphia, whose bene- 



NOTES 239 

factions were so noble, "every one a testimony of peace and 
goodwill," offered to defray the expense of a Milton memorial 
window in St. Margaret's Church, and Archdeacon F. W. 
Farrar, who was asked to take the matter in charge, wrote the 
following to Mr. Childs : " Mr. Lowell wrote me a quatrain for 
the Kaleigh window. 1 can think of no one so suitable as Mr. 
J. G. Whittier to write four lines for the Milton window. Mr. 
Whittier would feel the fullest sympathy for the great Puritan 
poet, whose spirit was so comjDletely that of the Pilgrim 
Fathers." Mr. Childs forwarded the letter to Mr. Whittier, 
who accepted the invitation and composed the following : 

" The new world honors him whose lofty x)lea 

For England's freedom made her own more sure, 
Whose song, immortal as its theme, shall be 
Their common freehold while both worlds endure." 

Dr. Farrar on receiving these lines wrote to Mr. Whittier as 
follows: "Let me thank you for the four lines on Milton. 
They are all that I can desire, and they will add to the interest 
which all Englishmen and Americans will feel in the beautiful 
Milton window. I think that if Milton had now been living, 
you are the poet whom he would have chosen to speak of him, 
as being the poet with whose whole tone of mind he would 
have been most in sympathy." 

In his memorable address at the unveiling of this window Mr. 
Matthew Arnold, alluding to the 'Anglo-Saxon Contagion' and 
its effect upon the ideal of a high and rare excellence, said : 
" I treat the gift of Mr. Childs as a gift in honour of Milton, al- 
though the window given is in memory of his second wife. . . . 
This fair and gentle daughter of the rigid sectarist of Hack- 
ney, this lovable companion with whom Milton had rest and 
happiness one year, is a part of Milton indeed, and in calling 
up her memory we call up his. ... If to our English race 
an inadequate sense for perfection of work is a real danger, 
if the discipline of respect for a high and flawless excellence 
is peculiarly needed by us, Milton is of all our gifted men 
the best lesson, the most salutary influence. In the sure 



240 NOTES 

and lliiwless perfection of his rliytlnii and diction he is as 
admirable as Virgil or Dante, and in this respect he is nniqne 
amongst ns. No one else in English literature and art possesses 
a like distinction. . . . From style really high and pure Mil- 
ton never departs. That Milton, of all our English race, is by 
his diction and rhythm the one artist of the highest rank in the 
great style whom we have ; this I take as requiring no discus- 
sion, this 1 take as certain. . . . All the Anglo-Saxon con- 
tagion, all the flood of AnghvSaxon commonness, beats vainly 
against the great style but cannot shake it, and has to accept its 
triunqth. Hut it. triumphs in Milton, in our own race, tor.gue, 
faith, and morals. The English race overspreads the world, 
and at the same time the ideal of an excellence the most high 
and the most rare abides a possession with it forever." 

Mr. Henry Van Dyke says: "Of woman, woman as God 
meant her to be, woman as she is in true purity and unspoiled 
beauty of her nature, Milton never thought otherwise than nobly 
and reverently. Surely there is no more beautiful and heartfelt 
praise of perfect womanhood in all literature than this sonnet." 

Cf. Wordsworth's tribute to his wife in She loas a l^hantom 
of Delight: 

" The reason lirm, the temperate will, 
Endurance, foresight, strength and skill ; 
A perfect woman, nobly planni'd ; 
To warn, to comfort and command ; 
And yet a spirit still, and bright 
With something of angelic light." 

Cf. Tennyson, Pmicess: 

" My wife, my life. O we will walk this world. 
Yoked in all exercise of noble end. 
And so thro' those dark gates across the wild 
That no man knows. Indeed I love thee : come, 
Yield thyself up : my hopes and thine are one : 
Accomplish thou my manhood and thyself ; 
Lay thy sweet hands in mine and trust to me." 



NOTE 8 241 

Dedication to Enoch Ardan : 

" Dear, near and true — no truer Time liimself 
Can prove you, tho' he make you evermore 
Dearer and nearer." 

Cromwell died in August, 1058, and during Richard's Pro- 
tectorate Milton remained in office. He v^'rote the State papers 
and composed three pamphlets. The first was A Treatise of 
Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes: shovnnr/ that it is not 
lavjful for any Povjer on Earth to compel in Matters of lie- 
li(jion. In this he criticised Cromwell for supporting a State 
Church. The second, Considerations touching the Likeliest 
Means to remove Hirelinr/s out of the Church, was also an 
attack upon Cromwell's unjust interference in "free election of 
ministers." These were both in the spirit of Vane and the 
Republicans. In May, 1059, Richard abdicated, and on Monk 
being made Dictator, in March, 1000, the third pamphhjt 
appeared. It was A Beady and Easy Way to establish a Free 
Comrno7iv;ealth. Monk and the Parliament disregarded this 
splendid jjlea for a Republic. In May the J{estoration came 
and the hunt for Regicides began. Milton fled from his home 
and took hiding at a friend's in Bartholomew Close, until the 
29th of August, when the Act of Indenmity was passed. He 
was nevertheless taken into custody by the Sergeant-at-Arms, 
and his Defensio and Eikonoklastes burned by the hangman. 
He was released from custody by the intercession of friends, 
Andrew Marvel, or Sir William Davenant, the new Poet- 
laureate. 

" On evil days now fallen, and evil tongues. 
In darkness, and with dangers compassed round," 

his cause lost, his enemies in triumph, his name a byword, his 

fortune impaired, at fifty-two he is thrown back upon himself, 

and he asks — 

"by which means. 

Now blind, disheartened, shamed, dishonoured, quelled, 

To what can I be useful ? Wherein serve 

My nation, and the work from Heaven imposed ? " 



242 NOTES 

He begins to work upon tlie plan that pleased his boyish 
thought ; he is attired with sudden brightness like a man in- 
spired. Paradise Lost, Paradise Begained, Samsun Agoiiistes 
reveal to us 

" Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme." 

Lowell says: "It is idle to talk of the loneliness of one the 
habitual companions of whose mind were the Past and Future. 
I always seem to see him leaning in his blindness a hand on the 
shoulder of each, sure that one will guard the song which the 
other had inspired." 

" What though the music of thy rustic flute 
Kept not for long its happy country tone ; 

Lost it too soon, and learnt a stormy note 
Of men contention-tost, of men who groan, 

Which task'd thy pipe too sore, and tired thy throat — 
It fail'd and thou wast nuite ! 
Yet hadst thou always visions of our light 

And long with men of care thou couldst not stay, 

And soon thy foot resumed its wandering way, 
Left human haunt, and on alone till night." 

2. like Alcestis, etc. An allusion to the Alcestis of Euripi- 
des, where Hercules rescues the heroine from the lower world 
and restores her to her husband. 

" Euripides the human with his droppings of warm tears 
And his touching of things human 'till they seem to reach 
the spheres." 

6. Purification. Cf. Leviticns xii. 

10. Her face was veiled. Milton had never looked upon 
her face. Masson thinks there is here a possible allusion to 
Alkestis when restored to Admetus. 

" There is no telling how the hero twitched 

The veil off." 

BuowNiNCJ, Balaustion'' s Adventure. 



ELEGIA PRIMA 

AD CAROLUM DIODATUM 

Tandem, cliare, tuae mihi pervenere tabellse, 

Pertulit et voces nuncia charta tuas ; 
Pertiilit occidua Devee Cestrensis ab ora 

Vergivium prono qua petit amne saluin. 
Multum, crede, jiivat terras aluisse remotas 

Pectus amans nostri, taiuque fidele caput, 
Quodque mihi lepidum tellus longinqua sodalem 

Debet, at unde brevi reddere jussa velit. 
Me tenet urbs reflua quam Thamesis alluit unda, 

Meque nee invituni patria dulcis liabet. lO 

Jam nee arundiferum mihi cura revisere Camum, 

Nee dudum vetiti me laris angit amor. 
Nuda nee arva placent, umbrasque negantia molles ; 

Quam male Phoebicolis convenit ille locus ! 
Nee duri libet usque minas perferre Magistri, 

Caeteraque ingenio non subeunda meo. 
Si sit hoc exilium, patrios adiisse penates, 

Et vacuum curis otia grata sequi, 
Non ego vel profugi nomen sortemve recuso, 

Lsetus et exilii conditione fruor. 20 

utiuam vates nunquam graviora tulisset 

Ille Tomitano flebilis exul agro; 

24:j 



244 ELEGIA PRIMA 

Non tunc loiiio qiiicquam cessisset Homero, 

Neve foret victo laiis tibi prima, Maro. 
Tempora nam licet hie placidis dare libera Musis, 

Et totum rapiunt me, mea vita, libri. 
Excipit hinc fessum sinuosi pompa tlieatri, 

Et vocat ad plausus garrula scena suos. 
Seu catus auditur senior, sen prodigus liseres, 

Seu procus, aut posita casside miles adest, 30 

Sive decennali foecundus lite patronus 

Detonat inculto barbara verba f oro ; 
Saepe vafer gnato succurrit servus amanti, 

Et nasLim rigidi fallit ubique patris ; 
Ssepe novos illic virgo mirata calores 

Quid sit amor nescit, dum quoque nescit amat : 
Sive cruentatum furiosa Tragoedia sceptrum 

Quassat, et effusis crinibus ora rotat ; 
Et dolet, et specto, juvat et spectasse dolendo; 

Interdum et lacrymis dulcis amaror inest : 40 

Seu puer infelix indelibata reliquit 

Gaudia, et abrupto flendus amore cadit ; 
Seu ferus e tenebris iterat Styga criminis ultor, 

Conscia funereo pectora torre m ovens ; 
Seu moeret Pelopeia domus, seu nobilis Hi, 

Aut luit incestos aula Creontis avos. 
Sed neque sub tecto semper nee in urbe latemus, 

Irrita nee nobis tempora veris eunt. 
Nos quoque lucus liabet vicina consitus ulmo, 

Atque suburbani nobilis umbra loci 50 

Ssepius hie, blandas spirantia sidera flammas, 

Virgineos videas praeteriisse choros. 
Ah quoties dignse stupui miracula formge 

Quae possit senium vel reparare Jovis ! 



ELEGIA PRIMA 245 

Ah quoties vidi siiperantia himina gemmas, 

Atqiie faces quotquot volvit uterque polus ; 
Collaque bis vivi Pelopis quae brachia vincant, 

Quseque fluit puro nectare tiiicta via, 
Et deciis eximium frontis, tremulosqiie capillos, 

Aurea quae fallax retia tendit Amor ; GO 

Pellacesque genas, ad quas hyacinth ina sordet 

Purpura, et ipse tui floris, Adoui, rubor ! 
Cedite laudatse toties Heroides olim, 

Et qusecunque vaguni cepit arnica Jovem ; 
Cedite Achsenieniie turrita fronte puellye, 

Et quot Susa cohmt, Meiuuoniamque Ninon ; 
Vos etiani Danase fasces subniittite NymphiBj 

Et vos Iliacae, Komuleseque nurus ; 
Nee Pompeianas Tarpeia Musa columnas 

Jactet, et Ausoniis j^lena theatra stolis. 70 

Gloria virginibus debetur prima P)ritannis ; 

Extera sat tibi sit foemina posse sequi. 
Tuque urbs Dardaniis, Londinum, structa colonis, 

Turrigerum late conspicienda caput, 
Tu nimium felix intra tua moenia claudis 

Quicquid formosi pendulus orbis habet. 
Non tibi tot cselo scintillant astra sereno, 

Endymioneae turba ministra deae, 
Quot tibi conspicuse formaque auroque puellse 

Per medias radiant turba videnda vias. 80 

Creditur hue geminis venisse invecta columbis 

Alma pharetrigero milite cincta Venus, 
Huic Cnidon, et riguas Simoentis flumine valles, 

Huic Paphon, et roseam posthabitura Cypron. 
Ast ego, dum pueri sinit indulgentia cseci, 

Moenia quam subito linquere fausta paro ; 



246 ELEGIA SEXTA 

Et vitare procul malefidae infamia Circes 

Atria, divini Molyos usus ope. 
Stat quoque juncosas Cami remeare paludes, 

Atque iterum raucse murmur adire Scholse. 90 

Interea fidi parvum cape muniis amici, 

Paucaque in alternos verba coacta modos. 



ELEGIA SEXTA 
AD CAROLUM DIODATUM, ruri commorantem; 

QiU, cum Idihus Decemh. scripsisset, et sua cdrmina excusat'i postuldsHet 
Ki HoUto minus essent bo7ia, quod inter laiUitins quibuH erat ah amicLs 
exceptiiH haud satis felicem operam Musis dare se posse affirmabat, 
hoG habuit resjjOJisum. 

MiTTO tibi sanam non pleno ventre salutem, 

Qua tu distento forte carere potes. 
At tua quid nostram prolectat Musa camoenam, 

Nee sinit optatas posse sequi tenebras ? 
Carmine scire velis quam te redamemque colamque ; 

Crede milii vix hoc carmine scire queas. 
Nam neque noster am. or modulis encluditur arctis, 

Nee venit ad claudos integer ipse pedes. 
Quam bene solennes epulas, hilaremque Decembrim, 

Festaque cselifugam quae coluere Deum, lo 

Deliciasque refers, hiberni gaudia ruris, 

Haustaque per lepidos G-allica musta focos ! 
Quid quereris refugam vino dapibusque poesin ? 

Carmen amat Bacchum, carmina Bacchus am at. 



ELEGIA SEXTA 247 

Nee puduit Phoebum viricles gestasse corymbos, 

Atque hederani laiiro jDrseposuisse suse. 
Ssepiiis Aoniis clamavit collibus Euoi 

Mista Thyoneo turba novena choro. 
Naso Corallseis mala carmina niisit ab agris; 

Non illic epiilse, non sata vitis erat. 20 

Quid nisi vina, rosasque, racemiferuinque Lyseum, 

Cantavit brevibus Teia Musa iiiodis ? 
Pindaricosque inliat numeros Teumesius Euan, 

Et redolet suniptum pagina quseque nierum ; 
Dum gravis everso currus crepat axe supinus, 

Et volat Eleo pulvere fuscus eques. 
Quadrimoque madens Lyricen Romanus laccho 

Dulce canit Glyceran, flavicomamque Chloen. 
Jam quoque lauta tibi generoso mensa paratu 

Mentis alit vires, ingeniumque fovet. 30 

Massica foecundam despumant pocula venam, 

Fundis et ex ipso condita metra cado. 
Addimus his artes, fusumque per intima Phoebum 

Corda ; f avent uni Bacchus, Apollo, Ceres. 
Scilicet haud mirum tam dulcia carmina per te, 

Numine composito, tres peperisse Deos. 
Nunc quoque Thressa tibi cselato barbitos auro 

Insonat argua molliter icta manu ; 
Auditurque chelys suspensa tapetia circum, 

Virgineos tremula quae regat arte i^edes. 4(i 

Ilia tuas salteni teneant spectacula Musas, 

Et revocent quantum crapula pellit iners. 
Crede mihi, dum psallit ebur, comitataque plectrum 

Implet odoratos festa chorea tholos, 
Percipies tacitum per pectora serpere Phoebum, 

Quale repentinus permeat ossa calor ; 



248 ELEGIA SEXTA 

Perque puellares ociilos digitumque sonantem 

Irrnet in totos lapsa Thalia sinus. 
Nam que Elegia levis multoruni cura deoruni est, 

Et vocat ad numeros quemlibet ilia suos ; 50 

Liber adest elegis, Eratoque, Ceresque, Venusque, 

Et cum purpurea matre tenellus Amor. 
Talibus inde licent con vi via larga poetis, 

Ssepius et veteri commaduisse mero. 
At qui bella refert, et adulto sub Jove caelum, 

Heroasque pios, semideosque duces, 
Et nunc sancta canit superum consulta deorum, 

Nunc latrata fero regna profunda cane, 
Ille quidem parce, Samii pro more magistri, 

Vivat, et innocuos prsebeat herba cibos ; 60 

Stet prope fagineo pellucida lympha catillo, 

Sobriaque e puro pocula fonte bibat. 
Additur huic scelerisque vacans et casta juventus, 

Et rigidi mores, et sine labe manus ; 
Qualis veste nitens sacra, et lustralibus undis, 

Surgis ad infensos augur iture Deos. 
Hoc ritu vixisse ferunt post rapa sagacem 

Lumina Tiresian, Ogygiumque Linon, 
Et lare devoto profugum Calchanta, senemque 

Orpheon edomitis sola per antra feris ; 70 

Sic dapis exiguus, sic rivi potor Homerus 

Dulichium vexit per freta longa virum, 
Et per monstrificam Perseise Plioebados aulam, 

Et vada foemineis insidiosa sonis, 
Perque tuas, rex ime, domos, ubi sanguine nigro 

Dicitur umbrarum detinuisse greges : 
Diis etenim sacer est vates, divumque sacerdos, 

Spirat et occultum pectus et ora Jovem. 



ELEGIA SEXTA 249 

At tu si quid again scitabere (si modo saltern 

Esse putas tanti noscere siqiiid agam). 80 

Pacifemm canimus cselesti semine regem, 

Faustaque sacratis ssecula pacta libris ; 
Vagitumque Dei, et stabulantem paupere tecto 

Qui suprema suo cum patre regna colit ; 
Stelliparumque polum, modulantesque sethere turmas, 

Et subito elisos ad sua fa.na Deos. 
Dona quidem dedimus Christi natalibus ilia ; 

Ilia sub auroram lux mihi prima tulit. 
Te quoque pressa manent patriis meditata cicutis ; 

Tu mihi, cui recitem, judicis instar eris. 90 



DiODATi (e te '1 diro con maraviglia), 

Quel ritroso io, ch' amor spreggiar solea 

E de' suoi lacci spesso mi ridea, 

Gia caddi, ov' uom dabben talor s' impiglia. 

Ne treccie d' oro ne guancia vermiglia 
M' abbaglian si, ma sotto nova idea 
Pellegrina bellezza die '1 cuor bea, 
Portamenti alti onesti, e nelle ciglia 

Quel sereno fulgor d' amabil nero. 

Parole adorne di lingua piii d'una, lo 

E '1 cantar che di mezzo 1' emispero 

Traviar ben puo la faticosa Luna ; 

E degli occhi suoi avventa si gran fuoco 
Che 1' incerar gli orecchi mi fia poco. 



250 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 

EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 

ARGUMENTUM 

TiiYRSis et Damon, ejusdeui vicinl* pastores, eadem studia seqnuti, a pueritia 
ainici crant, ut qui plurimurn. Thyksis, animi causa profectus, peregr6 
de obitu Damonis munciuin accepit. Domuin postea revei-sus, et rem ita 
esse comperto, se suainque solitudinem hoc carmine deplorat. Damonis 
autem sub persona hie intelligitur Cauolus Deodatus, ex urbe Iletrurise 
Lucil paterno geaere oriundus, caetera Anglus ; ingeuio, doctrina, clarissi- 
misque caeteris virtutibus, dum viveret, juvenis egregius. 

HiMERiDES Nymphse (nam vos et Daphnin et Hylan, 
Et plorata diu meministis fata Bionis), 
Dicite Sicelicum Thamesina per oppida carmen : 
Quas miser effudit voces, quae murmura Thyrsis, 
Et qui bus assiduis exercuit antra querelis, 
Fluminaque, fontesque vagos, nemorumque recessus, 
Dum sibi praereptum queritur Damona, neque altam 
Luctibus exemit noctem, loca sola pererrans. 
Et jam bis viridi surgebat culmus arista, 
Et totidem flavas numerabant liorrea messes, 10 

Ex quo summa dies tulerat Damona sub umbras, 
Nee dum aderat Thy r sis ; pastorem scilicet ilium 
Dulcis amor Musae Thusca retinebat in urbe. 
Ast ubi mens expleta domum pecorisque relicti 
Cura vocat, simul assueta seditque sub ulmo, 
Turn vero amissum, tum denique, sentit amicum, 
Coepit et immensum sic exonerare dolorem : — 

" Ite domum impasti ; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
Hei mihi ! quae terris, quae dicam numina caelo, 
Fostquam te immiti rapuerunt funere, Damon ? 20 
Siccine nos linquis ? tua sic sine nomine virtus 
I bit, et obscuris numero sociabitur umbris ? 



EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 251 

At non ille aninias virga qui clividit aurea 
Ista velit, dignumque tui te ducat in agmen, 
Ignavumque procul pecus arceat omne silentum. 

" Ite domuin impasti ; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
Quicquid erit, certe, nisi me lupus ante videbit, 
Indeplorato non comminuere sepulchro, 
Constabitque tuus tibi honos, longiimque vigebit 
Inter pastores. Illi tibi vota secundo 30 

Solvere post Daplmin, post Daphnin dicere laudes, 
Gaudebunt, dum rura Pales, dum Faunus amabit ; 
Si quid id est, priscamque fidem coluisse, piumque, 
Palladiasque artes, sociumque habuisse canorum. 

"Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vocat, agni. 
Hsec tibi certa manent, tibi erunt haec prsemia, Damon. 
At milii quid tandem fiet modo ? quis mihi fidus 
Hserebit lateri comes, ut tu ssepe solebas, 
Frigoribus duris, et per loca foeta pruinis, 
A.ut rapido sub sole, siti morientibus lierbis, 40 

Sive opus in magnos fiiit eminus ire leones, 
Aut avido terrere lupos preesepibus altis ? 
Quis fando sopire diem cantuque solebit ? 

" Ite domum impasti ; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
Pectora cui credam ? quis me lenire docebit 
Mordaces curas, quis longam fallere noctem 
Dulcibus alloquiis, grato cum sibilat igni 
Molle pirum, et nucibus strepitat focus, at malus Auster 
Miscet cuncta foris, et desuper intonat ulmo ? 

"Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
Aut aestate, dies medio dum vertitur axe, 51 

Cum Pan sesculea somnum capit abditus umbra, 
Et repetunt sub aquis sibi nota sedilia l^ymplise, 
Pastoresque latent, stertit sub sepe colonus, 



252 EPITAPHIUM BAMONIS 

Quis niihi blanclitiasque tuas, quis turn mihi risiis, 
Cecropiosque sales ref eret, cultosque lepores ? 

"Ite domum impasti; domino jam iion vacat, agni. 
At jam solus agros, jam pascua solus oberro, 
Sicubi ramosae densantur vallibus umbrae ; 
Hie serum expecto ; supra caput imber et Eurus 60 
Triste sonant, fractseque agitata crepuscula silvLe. 

^' Ite domum impasti ; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
Heu ! quam culta mihi prius arva procacibus herbis 
Involvuntur, et ipsa situ seges alta fatiscit ! 
Innuba neglecto marcescit et uva racemo, 
Nee myrteta juvant; ovium quoque tsedet, at ille 
Moerent, inque suum convertunt ora magistrum. 

"Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
Tityrus ad corylos vocat, Alpliesiboeus ad ornos, 
Ad salices ^gon, ad flumina pulcher Amyntas : 70 

' Hie gelidi fontes, liic illita gramina musco. 
Hie Zephyri, hie placidas interstrepit arbutus undas.' 
Ista canunt surdo ; frutices ego nactus abibam. 

"Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
Mopsus ad hsec, nam me redeuntem forte notarat 
(Et callebat avium linguas et sidera Mopsus), 
' Thyrsi, quid hoe ? ' dixit ; ^quse te coquit improbabilis ? 
Aut te perdit amor, aut te male fascinat astrum ; 
Saturni grave ssepe fuit pastoribus astrum, 
Intimaque obliquo figit praecordia plumbo.' 80 

"Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
Mirantur nymphse, et ^ Quid te, Thyrsi, futurum est ? 
Quid tibi vis ? ' aiunt : ' non hsec solet esse juventae 
Nubila frons, oculique truces, vultusque severi : 
Ilia chores, lususque leves, et semper amorem 
Jure petit ; bis ille miser qui serus amavit.' 



EPITAPIIIUM DAMONIS 253 

"Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
Venit Hyas, Dryopeque, et filia Baucidis Mg\e, 
Docta modos, citliaraeque sciens, sed perdita fastn ; 
Venit Idumanii Chloris vincina fluenti : 90 

Nil me blanditise, nil me solantia verba, 
Nil me si quid adest movet, aut spes ulla futuri. 

"Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
Hei mihi! quam similes ludunt per prata juvenci, 
Omnes unanimi secum sibi lege sodales ! 
Nee magis liunc alio quisquam secernit amicum 
De grege ; sic densi veniunt ad pabula tlioes, 
Inque vicem liirsuti paribus junguntur onagri : 
Lex eadem pelagi ; deserto in littore Proteus 
Agmina phocarum numerat : vilisque volucrum lOO 
Passer habet semper quicum sit, et omnia circum 
Farra libens volitet, sero sua tecta revisens ; 
Quem si sors letho objecit, sen milvus adunco 
Fata talit rostro, sen stravit arundine fossor, 
Protinus ille alium socio petit inde volatu. 
Nos durum genus, et diris exercita fatis 
Gens, homines, aliena animis, et pectore discors ; 
Vix sibi quisque parem de millibus invenit unum ; 
Aut, si sors dederit tandem non aspera votis. 
Ilium inopina dies, qua non speraveris hora, iio 

Surripit, aeternum linquens in ssecula damnum. 

"Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
Heu ! quis me ignotas traxit vagus error in oras 
Ire per aereas rupes, Alpemque nivosam ? 
Ecquid erat tanti Komam vidisse sepultam 
(Quamvis ilia foret, qualem dum viseret olim 
Tityrus ipse suas et oves et rura reliquit), 
Ut te tarn dulci possem caruisse sodale, 



254 EPITAPHIUM DAMON IS 

Posseni tot maria alta, tot interponere montes, 

Tot silvas, tot saxa tibi, fluviosqiie sonantes ? 120 

Ah ! certe extremum licuisset tangere dextram, 

Et bene compositos placide morientis ocellos, 

Et dixisse ' Vale ! nostri memor ibis ad astra.' 

"Ite domum impasti ; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
Quamquani etiam vestri nunquam meminisse pigebit, 
Pastores Thusci, Musis operata juventus, 
Hie ChariS; atque Lepos ; et Thuscus tu quoque Damon, 
Antiqua genus unde petis Lucumonis ab urbe. 
ego quantus eram, gelidi cum stratus ad Ami 
Murmura, populeumque nemus, qua mollior lierba, 130 
Carpere nunc violas, nunc summas carpere myrtos, 
Et potui Lycidse certantem audire Menalcam ! 
Ipse etiam tentare ausus sum ; nee puto multiim 
Displicui ; nam sunt et apud me munera vestra, 
Fiscellae, calatliique, et cerea vincla cicutse : 
Quin et nostra suas docuerunt nomina fagos 
Et Datis et Francinus ; erant et vocibus ambo 
Et studiis noti, Lydorum sanguinis ambo. 

"Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
Haec mihi tum Iseto dictabat roscida luna, 140 

Dum solus teneros claudebam cratibus hoedos. 
Ah ! quoties dixi, cum te cinis ater habebat, 
' Nunc canit, aut lepori nunc tendit retia Damon ; 
Yimina nunc texit varios sibi quod sit in usus ' ; 
Et quae tum facili sperabam mente futura 
Arripui voto levis, et praesentia finxi. 
' Heus bone ! numquid agis ? nisi te quid forte retardat, 
Imus, et arguta pauliim recubamus in umbra, 
Aut ad aquas Colni, aut ubi jugera Cassibelauni ? 
Tu mihi percurres medicos, tua gramina, succos, 150 



EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 255 

Helleborumque, humilesque, crocos, foliumque hyacin- 

thi, 
Quasque habet ista palus herbas, artesque medentum.' 
Ah ! pereant herbse, pereant artesque medentum, 
Gramina, postquam ipsi nil profecere magistro ! 
Ipse etiam — namnescio quid milii grande sonabat 
Fistula — ab undeeima jam lux est altera nocte — 
Et tum forte no vis admoram labra cicutis : 
Dissiluere tamen, rupta compage, nee ultra 
Ferre graves potuere sonos : dubito quoque ne sim 
Turgidulus ; tamen et referam ; vos cedite, sylvae. 160 

"Ite doniuni impasti; domino jam non vacat, agni. 
Ipse ego Dardanias Rutupina per aequora puppes 
Dicam, et Pandrasidos regnum vetus Inogenise, 
Brennumque Arviragumque duces, priscumque Beli- 

num, 
Et tandem Armoricos Britonum sub lege colonos ; 
Tum gravidam Arturo fatali fraude logernen; 
Mendaces vultus, assumptaque Gorlois arma, 
Merlini dolus. 0, mihi tum si vita supersit, 
Tu procul annosa pendebis, fistula, pinu 
Multum oblita mihi, aut patriis mutata Camoenis ITO 
Brittonicum strides ! Quid enim ? omnia non licet uni, 
Non sperasse uni licet omnia ; mi satis ampla 
Merces, et mihi grande decus (sim ignotus in sevum 
Tum licet, externo penitiisque inglorius orbi), 
Si me flava comas legat Usa, et potor Alauni, 
Vorticibusque frequens Abra, et nemus omne Treantse, 
Et Thamesis mens ante omnes, et fusca metallis 
Tamara, et extremis me discant Orcades undis. 

"Ite domum impasti; domino jam non vacat, agui. 
Heec tibi servabam lenta sub cortice lauri, 180 



256 EPITAPHIUM DAMONIS 

Haec, et plura simiil ; tiini qiue nulii pociila Mansus, 

Mansus, Chalcidiei^ noii ultima gloria ripie, 

Bina dedit, iniruin artis opus, miraiidus et ipse, 

Et circum gemino caelaverat argumento. 

In medio Kubri jNIaris uiida, et odoriferum ver, 

Littora longa Arabum, et sudaiites balsama sylvse ; 

Has inter Plieenix, divina avis, unica terris, 

Ca^ruleum fulgens diversicoloribus alis, 

Auroram vitreis surgenteni respicit undis ; 

Parte alia polus omiiipateiis, et magnus Olympus : 190 

Quis putet ? hie quoque Amor, pictaeque in nube 

idiaretiie, 
Arma corusca, faces, et spicula tincta pyropo ; 
Nee tenues animas, pectusque ignobile vulgi, 
Hinc ferit; at, circum flammantia lumina torcjuens, 
Semper in erectum spargit sua tela per orbes 
Imi)iger, et pronos nunquam collimat ad ictus : 
Hinc mentes ardere sacrie, fornuieque deorum. 

" Tu quoque in his — nee me f allit spes lubrica, 
Damon — 
Tu quoque in his certe es ; nam quo tua dulcis abiret 
Sanctaque simplicitas ? nam quotua Candida virtus ? 2U0 
Nee te Letha^o fas quaesivisse sub Oreo ; 
Nee tibi conveniunt lacrymse, nee flebimus ultra. 
Ite procul, lacrymae; puruni colit a?thera Damon, 
^thera purus habet, pluvium pede reppulit arcum ; 
Heroumque animas inter, divosque perrennes, 
.Ethereos haurit latices et gaudia potat 
Ore sacro. Quin tu, caeli post jura recepta. 
Dexter ades, placidusque fave, quicunque vocaris ; 
Seu tu noster eris Damon, sive sequior audis 
DiODOTUs, quo te divino nomine cuncti 210 



EPITAPHIUM DAMON IS 257 

Cselicolse norint, sylvisque vocabere Damon. 
Quod tibi purpureas pudor, et sine labe juventus 
Grata fuit, quod nulla tori libata voluptas, 
En ! etiam tibi virginei servantur honores ! 
Ipse, caput nitidum cinctus rutilante corona, 
Laetaque frondentis gestans umbracula palmse, 
sternum perages immortales liymenseos, 
Cantus ubi, clioreisque furit lyra mista beatis, 
Festa Sionaeo bacchantur et Orgia thyrso." 



258 TRANSLATION 

Elegy I 

To CHARLES DEODATI 

At length, my friend, the far-sent letters come, 

Charged with thy kindness, to their destined home ; 

They come, at length, from Deva's western side. 

Where prone she seeks the salt Vergivian tide. 

Trust me, my joy is great that thou shouldst be. 

Though born of foreign race, yet born for me. 

And that my sprightly friend, now free to roam. 

Must seek again so soon his wonted home. 

I well content, where Thames with influent tide 

My native city laves, meantime reside, 10 

Nor zeal nor duty now my steps impel 

To reedy Cam, and my forbidden cell. 

Nor aught of pleasure in those fields have I, 

That, to the musing bard, all shade deny. 

'Tis time that I a pedant's threats disdain. 

And fly from wrongs my soul will ne'er sustain. 

If peaceful days, in lettered leisure spent 

Beneath my father's roof, be banishment. 

Then call me banished, I will ne'er refuse 

A name expressive of the lot I chuse. 20 

I would that, exiled to the Pontic shore, 

Rome's hapless bard had suffered nothing more; 

He then had equalled even Homer's lays, 

And Virgil! thou hadst won but second praise. 

For here I woo the Muse, with no control ; 

And here my books — my life — absorb me wliole. 

Here too I visit, or to smile, or weep. 

The winding theatre's majestic sweep; 



ELEGY I 259 

The grave or gay colloquial scene recruits 
My spirits, spent in learning's long pursuits, 30 

Whether some senior shrewd, or spendthrift heir, 
Suitor, or soldier now unarmed, be there; 
Or some coifed brooder o'er a ten years' cause 
Thunder the Norman gibberish of the laws. 
The lacquey there oft dupes the wary sire. 
And artful speeds the enamoured son's desire. 
There, virgins oft, unconscious what they prove. 
What love is know not, yet, unknowing, love. 
Or if impassioned Tragedy wield high 
The bloody sceptre, give her locks to fly 40 

Wild as the winds, and roll her haggard eye, 
I gaze, and grieve, still cherishing my grief. 
At times even bitter tears yield sweet relief: 
As when, from bliss untasted torn away. 
Some youth dies, hapless, on his bridal day; — 
Or when the ghost, sent back from shades below, 
Eills the assassin's heart with vengeful woe, 
When Troy, or Argos, the dire scene affords. 
Or Creon's hall laments its guilty lords. 
Nor always city-pent, or pent at home, 50 

I dwell; but when spring calls me forth to roam, 
Expatiate in our proud suburban shades 
Of branching elm, that never sun pervades. 
Here many a virgin troop I may descry, 
Like stars of mildest influence, gliding by. 
Oh forms divine ! Oh looks that might inspire 
Even Jove himself, grown old, with young de- 
sire! 
Oft have I gazed on gem-surpassing eyes, 
Outsparkling every star that gilds the skies. 



260 TRA NSL A TION 

Necks whiter than the ivory arm bestowed (iO 

By Jove on Pelops, or the Milky Eoad ! 

Bright locks, Love's golden snare! tliese falling low, 

Those playing wanton o'er the graceful brow! 

Cheeks too, more winning sweet than after shower 

Adonis turned to Flora's favourite flower! 

Yield, heroines, yield, and ye who shared the embrace 

Of Jupiter in ancient times, give place! 

Give place, ye turbaned fair of Persia's coast! 

A.nd ye, not less renowned, Assyria's boast! 

Submit, ye nymphs of Greece! ye, once the bloom 70 

Of Ilion ! and all ye of haughty Rome, 

Who swept, of old, her theatres with trains 

Redundant, and still live in classic strains! 

To British damsels beauty's palm is due; 

Aliens! to follow tliem is fame for you. 

city, founded by Dardanian hands, 

Whose towering front the circling realms commands, 

Too blest abode! no loveliness we see 

Tn all the earth, but it abounds in thee. 

The virgin multitude that daily meets 80 

Radiant with gold and beauty, in thy streets. 

Outnumbers all her train of starry fires, 

With which Diana gilds thy lofty spires. 

Fame says, that wafted hither by her doves, 

With all her host of quiver-bearing loves, 

Venus, preferring Paphian scenes no more. 

Has fixed her empire on thy nobler sliore. 

But lest the sightless boy inforce my stay, 

1 leave these happy walls, while 3'et I may. 
Immortal Moly shall secure my heart 90 
From all the sorcery of Circaean art, 



ELEGY VI 2G1 

And I will e'en repass Cam's reedy pools 
To face once more the warfare of the scliools. 
Meantime accept this trifle! rhymes though few, 
Yet such as prove thy Friend's remembrance true ! 



Elegy VI 
To CHAHLES DEODATI 

Who, while he spent his Christmas in the country, sent the Author 
a poetical Epistle, in which he requested that his verses, if not so 
good as usual, might be excused on account of the many feasts to 
which his friends had invited him, and which would not allow 
him leisure to finish them as he wished. 

With no rich viands overcharged, I send 

Health, which perchance you want, my i)ampered 

friend; 
But wherefore should tliy muse tempt mine away 
From what she loves, from darkness into day ? 
Art thou desirous to be told how well 
I love thee, and in verse ? verse cannot tell, 
For verse has bounds, and must in measure move 
]>ut neither bounds nor measure knows my love. 
How pleasant, in thy lines described, appear 
December's harmless sports, and rural cheer! 10 

French spirits kindling with cserulean fires, 
And all such gambols as the time inspires ! 

Think not that wine against good verse offends; 
The Muse and Bacchus have been always friends. 
Nor Phoebus blushes sometimes to be found 
With ivy, rather than with laurel, crowned. 



262 TRANSLATION 

The Nine themselves ofttimes have joined the song 

And revels of the Bacclianalian throng; 

Not even Ovid could in Scythian air 

Sing sweetly — wliy ? no vine would flourish there, 20 

AVhat in brief numbers sung Anacreon's muse ? 

Wine, and the rose, that sparkling wine bedews. 

rindar with Bacchus glows — his every line 

Breathes the rich fragrance of inspiring wine. 

While, with loud crash overturned, the chariot lies 

And brown with dust the fiery courser flies. 

The Koman lyrist steeped in wine liis lays. 

So sweet in Glycera's and Chloe's praise. 

Now too the plenteous feast and mantling bowl 

Nourish the vigour of thy sprightly soul ; 30 

The flowing goblet makes thy numbers flow. 

And casks not wine alone, but verse bestow. 

Tiius Phoebus favours, and the arts attend, 

Whom Bacchus, and wliom Ceres, both befriend: 

What wonder, then, thy verses are so sweet. 

In which these triple powers so kindly meet ? 

The lute now also sounds, with gold inwrought. 

And touched with flying fingers, nicely tauglit; 

In tapestried halls, high-roofed, the sprightly lyre 

Directs the dancers of the virgin choir. 40 

If dull repletion fright the muse away, 

Siglits, gay as these, may more invite her stay: 

And, trust me, while the ivory keys resound, 

Fair damsels sport, and perfumes steam around, 

Apollo's influence, like ethereal flame. 

Shall animate, at once, thy glowing frame. 

And all tlie Muse shall rush into thy breast, 

By love and music's blended powers possest. 



ELEGY VI 263 

For numerous powers light Elegy befriend, 

Hear her sweet voice, and at her call attend; 50 

Her Bacchus, Ceres, Venus, all approve, 

And, with his blushing mother, gentle Love. 

Hence to such bards we grant the copious use 

Of banquets, and the vine's delicious juice. 

But they, who demi-gods and heroes praise. 

And feats performed in Jove's more youthful days, 

Who now the counsels of high heaven explore, 

Now shades, that echo the Cerberean roar. 

Simply let these, like him of Samos, live; 

Let herbs to them a bloodless banquet give; 60 

In beechen goblets let their beverage shine, ^ 

Cool from the crystal spring, their sober wine ! 

Their youth should pass in innocence, secure 

From stain licentious, and in manners pure. 

Pure as the priest, when robed in white he stands, 

The fresh lustration ready in his hands. 

Thus Linus lived, and thus, as poets write, 

Tiresias, wiser for his loss of sight; 

Thus exiled Chalcas, thus the bard of Thrace, 

Melodious tamer of the savage race ; 70 

Thus, trained by temperance, Homer led, of yore. 

His chief of Ithaca from shore to shore, 

Through magic Circe's monster-peopled reign. 

And shoals insidious with the Siren train; 

And through the realms where grizly spectres dwell. 

Whose tribes he fettered in a gory spell : 

For these are sacred bards, and, from above, 

Drink large infusions from the mind of Jove. 

Wouldst thou, (perhaps 'tis hardly worth thine ear) 
Wouldst thou be told my occupation here ? 80 



264 TRANSLATION 

The promised King of peace employs my pen, 
The eternal covenant made for guilty men, 
The new-born Deity with infant cries 
Filling the sordid hovel, where he lies; 
The hymning Angels, and the herald star, 
That led the Wise, who sought him from afar, 
And idols on their own unhallowed shore 
Dashed, at his birth, to be revered no more ! 
This theme on reeds of Albion I rehearse : 
The dawn of that blest day inspired the verse; ■ 90 
Verse that, reserved in secret, shall attend 
Thy candid voice, my critic, and my friend! 



SONNET 

TO CHARLES DEODATI 

Charles — and I say it wondering — thou must know 
That I, who once assumed a scornful air, 
And scoffed at Love, am fallen in his snare ; 
(Full many an upright man has fallen so.) 

Yet think me not thus dazzled by the flow 
Of golden locks, or damask cheek ; more rare 
The heartfelt beauties of my foreign fair, 
A mien majestic, with dark brows that show 

Tlie tranquil lustre of a lofty mind; 

AVords exquisite, of idioms more than one. 
And song, whose fascinating power might bind, 

And from her sphere draw down, the labouring moon ; 
With such fire-darting eyes, that should I All 
My ears with wax, she would enchant me still. 



ON THE DEATH OF DAMON 265 

ON THE DEATH OF DAMON 

AN ARGUMENT 

Thyrsis and Damon, shepherds and neighbours, had always pur- 
sued the same studies, and had, from their earliest days, been united 
in the closest friendship. Thyrsis, while travelling for improve- 
nient, received intelligence of the death of Damon, and, after a time, 
returning and tinding it true, deplores himself, and his solitary 
condition, in this poem. 

By Damon is to be understood Charles Deodati, connected with 
the Italian city of Lucca by his father's side, in other respects an 
Englishman ; a youth of uncommon genius, erudition, and virtue. 

Ye nymphs of Himera (for ye have shed 

Erewhile for Daphnis, and for Hylas dead, 

And over Bion's long-lamented bier, 

The fruitless meed of many a sacred tear), 

Now through the villas laved by Thames rehearse 

The woes of Thyrsis in Sicilian verse, 

What sighs he heaved, and how with groans profound 

He made the woods and hollow rocks resound. 

Young Damon dead; nor even ceased to pour 

His lonely sorrows at the midnight hour. 10 

The green wheat twice had nodded in the ear 
And golden harvest twice enriched the year. 
Since Damon's lips had gasped for vital air 
The last, last time, nor Tliyrsis yet was there; 
For he, enamoured of the Muse, remained 
In Tuscan. Fiorenza long detained, 
But, stored at length with all he wished to learn, 
For his flock's sake now hasted to return; 
And when the shepherd had resumed his seat 
At the elm's root, within liis own retreat, 20 



266 TBANSLATIOK 

Then 'twas his lot, then, all his loss to know, 
And, from his burthened heart, he vented tlius his woe: 
" Go, seek your home, my lambs 5 my thoughts are 
due 
" To other cares than those of feeding you. 
" Alas ! what deities shall I suppose 
"In heaven, or earth, concerned for human woes, 
"Since, my Damon! their severe decree 
" So soon condemns me to regret of thee ! 
" Departest thou thus, thy virtues unrepaid 
" With fame and honour, like a vulgar shade ? 30 

"Let him forbid it whose bright rod controls 
" And separates sordid from illustrious souls, 
" Drive far the rabble, and to thee assign 
" A happier lot, with spirits worthy thine ! 

" Go, seek your home, my lambs ; my thoughts are 
due 
' To other cares than those of feeding you. 
' Whate'er befall, unless by cruel chance 
' The wolf first give me a forbidding glance, 
' Thou shalt not moulder undeplored, but long 
' Thy praise shall dwell on every shepherd's tongue ; 40 
' To Daphnis first they shall delight to pay, 
' And, after him, to thee, the votive lay, 
'While Pales shall the flocks and pastures love, 
' Or Faunus to frequent the field or grove, 
' At least, if ancient piety and truth, 
' With all the learned labours of thy youth, 
'May serve thee aught, or to have left behind 
A sorrowing friend, and of the tuneful kind. 
" Go, seek your home, my lambs ; my thoughts are due 
" To other cares than those of feeding you. 50 



ON THE DEATH OF DAMON 267 

" Yes, Damon! such thy sure reward shall be; 
'' But ah, what doom awaits unhappy me ? 
" Who now my pains and perils shall divide 
" As thou wast wont, for ever at my side, 
" Both when the rugged frost annoyed our feet, 
"And when the herbage all was parched with heat; 
" Whether the grim wolf's ravage to prevent, 
" Or the huge lion's, armed with darts we went ? 
"■Whose converse, now, shall calm my stormy day, 
"With charming song who now beguile my way ? 60 
"Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are 

due 
" To other cares than those of feeding you. 
" In whom shall I confide ? whose counsel find 
" A balmy medicine for my troubled mind ? 
"Or whose discourse with innocent delight 
" Shall fill me now, and cheat the wintry night, 
" While hisses on my hearth the pulpy pear, 
"And blackening chestnuts start and crackle there, 
"While storms abroad the dreary meadows whelm, 
"And the wind thunders through the neighbouring 

elm ? 70 

" Go, seek your home, my lambs ; my thoughts are 

due 
"To other cares than those of feeding you. 
" Or who, when summer suns their summit reach, 
" And Pan sleeps hidden by the sheltering beech, 
"When shepherds disappear, nymphs seek the 

sedge, 
" And the stretched rustic snores beneath the hedge, 
" Who then shall render me thy pleasant vein 
" Of Attic wit, thy jests, tli}' smiles, again ? 



268 TRANSLATION 

" Go, seek your home, my lambs ; my thoughts are 

due 
" To other cares than those of feeding you. 80 

" Where glens and vales are thickest overgrown 
" With tangled boughs, I wander now alone, 
"Till night descends, while blustering wind and 

shower 
" Beat on my temples through the shattered bower. 
"Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are 

due 
" To other cares than those of feeding you. 
" Alas ! what rampant weeds now shame my lields, 
" And what a mildewed crop the furrow yields ! 
" My rambling vines, unwedded to the trees, 
" Bear shrivelled grapes ; my myrtles fail to please ; 90 
"Nor please me more my flocks; they, slighted, 

turn 
"Their unavailing looks on me, and mourn. 

"Go, seek your home, my lambs; my thoughts are 

due 
" To other cares than those of feeding you. 
" ^gon invites me to the hazel grove, 
" Amyntas, on the river's bank to rove, 
" And young Alphesiboeus to a seat 
" Where branching elms exclude the mid-day heat. 
"'Here fountains spring, — here mossy hillocks rise; 
"'Here Zephyr whispers, and the stream replies.' 100 
"Thus each persuades, but, deaf to every call, 
"I gain the thickets, and escape them all. 

" Go, seek your home, my lambs ; my thoughts are 

due 
" To other cares than those of feeding you. 



ON THE DEATH OF DAMON 269 

" Then Mopsus said, (the same who reads so well 
" The voice of birds, and what the stars foretell, 
" For he by chance had noticed my return,) 
" ' What means thy sullen mood, this deep concern ? 
'"Ah, Thyrsis! thou art either crazed with love, 
"'Or some sinister influence from above; llO 

'"Dull Saturn's influence oft the shepherds rue; 
'"His leaden shaft oblique has pierced thee through.' 

" Go, go, my lambs, unpastured as ye are, 
" My thouglits are all now due to other care. 
" The nymphs, amazed, my melancholy see, 
"And 'Thyrsis!' cry, 'what will become of thee ? 
"'What wouldst thou, Thyrsis? such should not 

appear 
"'The brow of youtli, stern, gloomy, and severe; 
'"Brisk youth should laugh and love, — ah, shun the 

fate 
'"Of those twice wretched mopes who love too late! ' 

" Go, go, my lambs, unpastured as ye are ; 121 

"My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
" ^gle with Hyas came, to soothe my pain, 
" And Baucis' daughter, Dryope the vain, 
"Fair Dryope, for voice and finger neat 
"Known far and near, and for her self-conceit; 
" Chloris too came, whose cottage on the lands 
"That skirt the Idumanian current stands; 
" But all in vain they came, and but to see 
" Kind words, and comfortable, lost on me. 130 

" Go, go, my lambs, unpastured as ye are ; 
" My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
" Ah, blest indifference of the playful herd, 
"iSTone by his fellow chosen or preferred! 



270 TEA NSL A TION 

" No bonds of amity the flocks enthral, 

"But each associates and is pleased with all; 

" So graze the dappled deer in numerous droves, 

"And all his kind alike the zebra loves; 

" The same law governs where the billows roar, 

"And Proteus' shoals o'erspread the desert shore; 140 

" The sparrow, meanest of the feathered race, 

"His tit companion finds in every place, 

" With whom he picks the grain that suits him best, 

"Flirts here and there, and late returns to rest, 

"And whom, if chance the falcon make his prey, 

" Or hedger with his well-aimed arrow slay, 

" For no such loss the gay survivor grieves, 

"New love he seeks, and new delight receives. 

"We only, an obdurate kind, rejoice, 

" Scorning all others, in a single choice. 150 

"We scarce in thousands meet one kindred mind; 

" And if the long-sought good at last we find, 

" When least we fear it. Death our treasure steals, 

" And gives our heart a wound that nothing heals. 

"Go, go, my lambs, unpastured as ye are; 
"My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
" Ah, what delusion lured me from my flocks, 
" To traverse Al[)ine snows and rugged rocks ! 
" What need so great had I to visit Rome, 
" Now sunk in ruins, and lierself a tomb ? 160 

" Or, had she flourished still as when of old 
"For her sake Tityrus forsook his fold, 
" What need so great had I to incur a pause 
" Of thy sweet intercourse for such a cause, 
" For such a cause to place the roaring sea, 
" Rocks, mountains, woods, between my friend and me? 



ON THE DEATH OF DAMON 271 

" Else, had I grasped thy feeble hand, composed 
" Thy decent limbs, thy drooping eyelids closed, 
"And, at the last, had said — 'Farewell, —ascend, — 
" 'Nor even in the skies forget thy friend! ' ITO 

"Go, go, my lambs, untended homeward fare; 
" My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
"Although well pleased, ye tuneful Tuscan swains! 
" My mind the memory of your worth retains, 
" Yet not your worth can teach me less to mourn 
"My Damon lost; — he too was Tuscan born, 
"Born in your Lucca, city of renown! 
"And wit possessed, and genius, like your own. 
" Oh, how elate was I, when stretched beside 
"The murmuring course of Arno's breezy tide, 180 
" Beneath the poplar grove I passed my hours, 
" Now cropping myrtles, and now vernal flowers, 
" And hearing, as I lay at ease along, 
"Your swains contending for the prize of song! 
" I also dared attempt (and, as it seems, 
" Not much displeased attempting) various themes, 
" For even I can presents boast from you, 
"The shepherd's pipe, and osier basket too; 
" And Dati, and Francini, both have made 
" My name familiar to the beechen shade, 190 

" And they are learned, and each in every place 
"Kenowned for song, and both of Lydian race. 

" Go, go, my lambs, untended homeward fare ; 
" My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
" While bright the dewy grass with moonbeams shone, 
" And I stood hurdling in my kids alone, 
" How often have I said (but thou hadst found 
" Ere then thy dark cold lodgment under ground), 



272 . TRANSLATION 

"Xow Damon sings, or springes sets for hares, 

"Or wickerwork for various use prepares! 200 

" How oft, indulging fancy, have I planned 

" New scenes of pleasure that I hoped at hand, 

" Called thee abroad as I was wont, and cried, 

"'What, hoa! my friend, — come lay thy task aside, 

" ' Haste, let us forth together, and beguile 

"'The heat beneath yon whispering shades awhile, 

"'Or on the margin stray of Colne's clear flood, 

'"Or where Cassibelan's grey turrets stood! 

"'There thou shalt cull me simples, and shalt teach 

'"Thy friend the name and healing powers of each, 210 

"'From the tall bluebell to the dwarfish weed, 

'"What the dry land and wliat the marshes breed, 

'"For all their kinds alike to thee are known, 

"'And the whole art of Galen is thy own.' 

" Ah, perish Galen's art, and withered be 

" The useless herbs that gave not health to thee ! 

"Twelve evenings since, as in poetic dream 

" I meditating sat some statelier theme, 

" The reeds no sooner touched my lip, though new 

" And unessayed before, than wide they flew, 220 

"Bursting their waxen bands, nor could sustain 

"The deep-toned music of the solemn strain; 

"And I am vain perhaps, but I will tell 

" How proud a theme I chose, — ye groves, farewell ! 

" Go, go, my lambs, untended homeward fare ; 
" My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
" Of Brutus, Dardan chief, my song shall be, 
"How with liis barks he ploughed the British sea, 
" First from Rutupia's towering headland seen, 
"And of his consort's reign, fair Imogen; 230 



ON THE DEATH OF DAMON 273 

" Of Brennus and Belinus, brothers bold, 

"And of Arviragus, and how of old 

" Our hardy sires the Armorican controlled, 

" And of the wife of Gorlois, who, surprised 

"By Uther, in her husband's form disguised 

" (Such was the force of Merlin's art), became 

" Presrnant with Arthur of heroic fame. 

"These themes I now revolve, — and oh, if Fate 

"Proportion to these themes my lengthened date, 

"Adieu my shepherd's reed! yon pine-tree bough 240 

" Shall be thy future home ; there dangle thou 

"Forgotten and disused, uuless ere long 

"Thou change thy Latian for a British song; 

" A British ? — even so, — the powers of man 

" Are bounded ; little is the most he can : 

" And it shall well suffice me, and shall be 

" Fame, and proud recompense enough for me, 

" If Usa, golden-haired, my verse may learn. 

" If Alain bending o'er his crystal urn, 

" Swift-whirlingAbra, Trent's o'ershadowed stream, 250 

" Thames, lovelier far than all in my esteem, 

"Tamar's ore-tinctured flood, and, after these, 

" The wave-worn shores of utmost Orcades. 

" Go, go, my lambs, untended homeward fare ; 
" My thoughts are all now due to other care. 
" All this I kept in leaves of laurel-rind 
" Enfolded safe, and for thy view designed 
"This, and a gift from Manso's hand beside 
"(Manso, not least his native city's pride), 
" Two cups that radiant as their giver shone, 2G0 

"Adorned by sculpture with a double zone. 
"The spring was graven there; here slowly wind 



274 TRANSLATION 

" The Red-sea shores, with groves of spices lined ; 
"Her plumes of various hues amid the boughs 
"The sacred, solitary Phoenix shows, 
" And, watchful of the dawn, reverts her head 
" To see Aurora leave her watery bed. — 
" In other part, the expansive vault above, 
"And there too, even there, the god of love; 
" With quiver armed he mounts, his torch displays 2T0 
"A vivid light, his gem-tipt arrows blaze, 
" Around his bright and fiery eyes he rolls, 
" Nor aims at vulgar minds or little souls, 
" Nor deigns one look below, but aiming high 
" Sends every arrow to the lofty sky ; 
"Hence forms divine, and minds immortal, Itiarn 
" The power of Cupid, and enamoured burn. 
" Thou, also, Damon (neither need I fear 
"That hope delusive), thou art also there; 
" For whither should simplicity like thine 280 

"Retire ? where else such spotless virtue shine ? 
"Thou dwellest not (thought profane) in shades 

below, 
"Nor tears suit thee; — cease then my tears to flow! 
"Away with grief, on Damon ill bestowed! 
" Who, pure himself, has found a pure abode, 
" Has passed the showery arch, henceforth resides 
" With saints and heroes, and from flowing tides 
" Quaffs copious immortality and joy, 
" With hallowed lips ! — Oh ! blest without alloy, 
" And now enriched with all that faith can claim, 290 
" Look down, entreated by whatever name, 
" If Damon please thee most (that rural sound 
" Shall oft with echoes fill the groves around) 



ON THE DEATH OF DAMON 21 B 

" Or if Deodatus, by which alone 

"In those ethereal mansions thou art known. 

" Thy blush was maiden, and thy youth the taste 

" Of wedded bliss knew never, pure and chaste : 

" The honours, therefore, by divine decree 

" The lot of virgin worth, are given to thee ; 

" Thy brows encircled with a radiant band, 300 

" And the green palm-branch waving in thy hand, 

" Thou in immortal nuptials shalt rejoice, 

"And join with seraphs thy according voice, 

"Where rapture reigns, and the ecstatic lyre 

"Guides the blest orgies of the blazing quire." 



NOTES 

1626-1645 
Elegy I 

We have already alluded to Milton's friendship for Diodati, 
which bejj;an at St. Paul's School (p. 115), and in this poem 
we have that friendship revealed in the true Miltonic fashion. 
It is interesting to know that the family of Diodati like that of 
Milton was persecuted for religious opinions. Diodati's uncle 
was exiled from Italy and settled in Geneva, where he became 
Professor of Hebrew, while his father came to England, married 
an English woman, and practised medicine in London. There 
the son Charles was born. The friendship of Diodati and Mil- 
ton formed at St. Paul's was continued while one was at Oxford 
and the other at Cambridge. In their vacations in London they 
were invariably together. 

Their correspojidence was in Latin and Greek, Diodati pre- 
ferring the latter, while Milton used the former. Two of 
Diodati's Greek epistles are now in the British Museum. The 
first, probably written in the vacation of 1025, bears this greet- 
ing, " GeoSoTos MIXtcjovl evcppaivea-dai (Diodati to Milton, to 
cheer up)." It contains the following evidence of the closest 
endearment: "So much do I long for your society that I am 
now dreaming of, and all but prophesying, fine weather, and 
calm, and everything golden, for to-morrow that we may regale 
each other with the discourses of philosophers and learned men, 
. . . air, and sun, and river, and trees, and birds, and men, 
will make holiday with us, and laugh with us, and, be it said 
without offence, dance with us . . . only you be ready either 
to start when I come* for you, or, without being called to come 
to me longing for you." In December of this year Diodati took 
his degree of B.A. and went into the country, as it is from 

27G 



NOTES 277 

Cheshire tliat the second of these Greek letters was sent, in the 
summer of 162G. It is headed, " 0665otos MiXtcjui xapetj/ (l)io- 
dati to Milton greeting)." I have no fault to find with my 
present mode of life, except this one, that I lack some kindred 
spirit to converse with, and long for such an one ; for what else 
is wanting when the days are long, the scenery blooming with 
flowers and waving and teeming with leaves, on every branch 
a nightingale or goldfinch or other bird delightful with its songs 
and warblings, most varied walks, a table neither scant nor 
overloaded, and sleep undisturbed." Masson thinks that Mil- 
ton's first elegy is written in reply to the above from Diodati. 
It was written during Milton's enforced absence from Cam- 
bridge in the summer of 1626, and is full of the most interesting 
biographical color. It reveals that the truest type of the Puri- 
tan was not devoid of the sense of humor. It is generally 
believed that the Puritans lacked this sense, but there are 
abundant evidences to the contrary. 

3. Deva's western side. The Dee was the old boundary 
between England and Wales. Diodati was in Cheshire near 
Chester. 

4. Vergivian tide. The Irish Sea. 

7, 8. now free to roam, etc. Milton seems delighted that 
Diodati can be in the country. 

12. my forbidden cell. Ilis rooms in St. John's College, 
Cambridge, from which he is temporarily exiled. 

"Among the band of my compeers was one 
Whom chance had stationed in the very room 
Honored by Milton's name." 

Wordsworth, Prelude, iii. 293-295. 

22. hapless bard. Ovid, who was banished from Rome by 
Augustus. "A soul ill at ease amid its surroundings." — R. Y. 
Tyrrell. 

27-49. Here too I visit, etc. Not much of formal Puritanism 
here. Shakespeare was his teacher. 

45. Some youth, etc. Romeo. 

47. assassin's heart. Hamlet. 



278 NOTES 

49, 50. Troy, or Argos, . . . Creon's hall, etc. An allusion 
to the tragedies of uEschylos, Sophocles and Euripides. 
"JEschylos, Sophocles and Euripides, the three tragic poets 
unequalled yet by any, and the best rule to all who endeavor to 
write Tragedy." — Preface to Smnson Agonistes. Cf. II Pense- 
7'oso, 97-102, and note. 

51-53. but when spring calls. Diodati wrote from the coun- 
try : "But thou, wondrous youth, why dost thou persist in 
tying thyself night and day to books, and studies. Live, laugh, 
enjoy youth and the present ; and give over wearing yourself 
out with reading about the libations, and leisures, and indo- 
lences of the Sages of old." 

54-89. Here many a virgin troop, etc. In some of the parks. 
Masson says, " Kensington Gardens would be about the present 
equivalent." Does any one doubt that Milton was susceptible 
to feminine cliarms ? Cf. note, p. 210. 

76. Dardanian hands. An allusion to the old legend which 
said that London was founded by the Trojans, and called New 
Troy. 

90, 91. Immortal Moly, etc. By this plant Ulysses is made 
proof against tlie charms of Circe, 

" The root is black, 
The blossom white as milk. Among the gods 
Its name is Moly." — Odyssey, x. 

1629-1645 
Elegv VI 

The heading to this poem reveals the occasion of its inception. 
It is in reply to one of December loth, 1629, written by Diodati 
when he was in the country enjoying the festivities preceding 
Christmas, and was sent about Christmas in the same year. 
Diodati was continuing the study of medicine, and Milton was 
still in the University. Masson thinks that when Diodati was 
incorporated ad eundem at Cambridge in July, 1629, the two 
friends must have met. 

10-12. December's harmless sports, etc. Cf. Washington 



NOTES 279 

Irving, Christmas, Christmas Daij, and Christmas Eve in Sketch 
Book. 

19, 20. Not even Ovid, etc. Ovid, during his banisliment, 
wrote his Tristla, and other poems which were considered by 
critics not equal to tliose written in Italy. 

21. Anacreon's muse. Anacreon was a native of Teos on 
the coast of Asia Minor. His poetry was characterized by its 
bacchanalian turn. Professor R. C. Jebb calls him the poet of 
courtly festivity. 

23-26. Pindar with Bacchus glows, etc. Pindar was the 
poet of the Olympian Festival, where the present and past 
religious and heroic splendor cff the Hellenic spirit were united. 
Matthew Arnold described him as "the poet on whom above 
all other poets, the power of style seems to have exercised an 
inspiring and intoxicating effect." 

27, 28. The Roman lyrist, etc. 

" Bacchus ! to thee belong 
The glories twain of Peace and War, 
The fight, the jest, the dance, the song : 
Hail ! genial King ! Hail ! youthful conqueror! " 

Horace^ Book ii. Ode xix. 

" Drink, comrades, drink ; give loose to mirth ! 
With joyous footstep beat the earth. 
And spread before the War-God's shrine 
The Salian feast, the sacrificial wine." 

Book i. Ode xxxvii. 

29-54. Now too the plenteous feast, etc. Milton gives here 
a splendid characteristic of what he calls "light elegy," the 
popular flute music suitable for social gatherings or the jovial 
friendly epistle. 

39-48. In tapestried halls, etc. Diodati was enjoying holi- 
day festivities with friends in the country, and this description 
of the associations of the time in the English country-mansion is 
exceedingly beautiful. 



280 NOTES 

" As in the winters left behind, 

Again our ancient games had place, 
The mimic pictures' breathing grace, 
And dance and song and hoodman blind," 

In Meriioriam^ lxxviii. 

" And who but listened, — till was paid 
Respect to every true friend's claim : 
The greeting given, the music played, 
In honour of each household name. 
Duly pronounced with lusty call. 
And 'Merry Christmas' wished to all." 

Wordsworth, The Eirei' Duddon. 

55-78. But they, etc. "These twenty-four lines," says 
Masson, " are about Milton's noblest in Latin, and deserve to 
be learnt by heart with reference to himself, or to be written 
under his portrait." 

59. him of Samos. Pythagoras. 

67. Linus. Theban philosopher and singer. He instructed 
Hercules in music. 

68. Tiresias. A Theban prophet. Cf. Tennyson, Tiresias. 

69. Calchas. The prophet who went with the Greeks to 
Troy. Cf. Iliad, i. 

bard of Thrace. Orpheus, poet, musician and philosopher. 

71-78. Homer led, etc. Cf. Odyssey, x. 

79-88. Wouldst thou be told, etc. An allusion to the Hymn 
on the Nativity. 

91, 92. Verse that, etc. This is a revelation that Diodati 
was looked upon by Milton much as was Hallam by Tennyson. 

" Heart-affluence in discursive talk 

From household fountains never dry : 
The critic clearness of an eye. 
That saw thro' all the Muses' walk." 

In Memoriam, cix. 

Cf. Comus, 619-628, and note. 



NOTES 281 



1638-1646 

Sonnet 

Milton set out upon his Italian journey (cf. p. 209) full of joy 
and hope, not a little of which was due to his association with 
Diodati. In his Epistolae Familiares, written not long before 
he left England, we find him greeting his friend who was now 
settled in the practice of his profession, probably near Chester. 
He says : " I would not that true friendship turned on balance 
of letters and salutations, all which may be false ; but that it 
should depend upon the deep roots of the mind and sustain 
itself there . . . for the fostering of which friendship there is 
not need so much of writing as of a loving recollection of virtues 
on the one side and on the other. Nor, even now should you 
not have written, would there be a lack of means for supplying 
that good office. Your probity writes with me in your stead 
and indites true letters on my inmost heart ; your blanielessness 
of morals writes to me, and your love of the good ; your genius 
also, by no means a common one, writes to me, and commends 
you to me more and more, . . . Know that it is impossible for 
me not to love men like you." This, then, was the feeling he 
carried with him everywhere during his visit with the country- 
men of his friend. While at Florence he makes a journey to 
Lucca to visit the town where the Diodati family originated, 
and at Geneva visited the celebrated theologian, Giovanni 
Diodati, the uncle of Charles. 

In the five sonnets and the canzone written in Italian there is 
concealed an experience similar to that in the sonnets of Shake- 
speare, and the critics are perplexed as to how to interpret them. 
They seem to reveal Milton's love for a beautiful and accom- 
plished Italian lady. It is generally believed that they were 
written during his visit to Italy and that they record his affec- 
tion for one whom he then met, —possibly, but unlikely, the 
celebrated singer, Leonora Baroni, whom he heard at Kome 
and to whom he addressed complimentary Latin verses. The 
lady is described in the first sonnet as one 



282 NOTES 

" whose harmonious name the Rhine 
Through all his grassy vale, delights to hear." 

In the fourth he says : 

" Lady ! it cannot be but that thine eyes 

Must be my sun, such radiance they display." 

The master-mistress of Shakespeare's passion, and the subject 
of Wordsworth's poems on Lucy are not more surely concealed 
than is this spirit 

" That manifests a sweetness all divine." 

It was natural that Milton should wish to confide this secret to 
his friend Diodati, and the incident is rendered pathetic from 
the fact that the sonnets never reached him. Cf. Epitaphium 
Damonis^ note. 

1639-1645 

The Death of Damon 

Early in 1639 Milton turned his steps homeward. He was 
anticipating the pleasure of meeting his friend in the familiar 
scenes so dear to both, and the opportunity of sharing the 
delights of his tour, when he learned that his liopes were vain, 
— that Diodati had been dead for nearly a year. No particulars 
were made known to him until he reached home. He was at 
first stunned by the blow, but on gaining possession of himself 
he could say as did Tennyson at the death of Hallam : 

" I sing to him that rests below. 

And since the grasses round me wave, 
I take the grasses of the grave. 
And make them pipes whereon to blow." 

The fact that this poem was written in Latin has caused it to 
be almost unknown to the general reader, and hence Lycidas 
has become associated with the other great elegies of English 
poets. But Lijcidas lacks the strong personal note which is 
the characteristic of the Latin poem. King had been only an 



NOTES 283 

associate of Milton in the life of the University, while Diodati 
was the embodiment (^f 

" First love, first friendsliii), e(iuiil powers, 
That marry with the virgin heart." 

"In Diodati," says Mr, Richard Garnett, "Milton found per- 
haps the only friend whom, in the most sacred sense of that 
term, he had ever possessed." 

Mr. Mark Pattison says: "Milton's Latin verses are dis- 
tinguished from most Neo-Latin verse hy being a vehicle of 
real emotion. His technical skill is said to have been sur- 
passed by others ; but that in which he stands alone is, that in 
these exercises of imitative art he is able to remain himself and 
to give utterance to genuine passion. Artificial Arcadianism 
is as nuich the framework of the elegy on Diodati as it is of 
Lycidas. . . . But this factitious bucolism is pervaded by a 
pathos which, like volcanic heat, has fused into a new com- 
pound the dilapidated debris of the Theocritan world." 

"The poem is," says Masson, "beyond all (luestion, the 
finest, the deepest in feeling of all that Milton has WU, us in 
Latin, and one of the most interesting of all his i)oeiiis, whether 
in Latin or Englisli. . . . Whoever will read it will ])(!rceive 
in it a passionateness of personal grief, an evidence of hursts of 
tears and sobbings interrupting the act of writing, to which 
there is nothing ('(|uivalent in the English L//c<V/a.s'." 

L nymphs of Himera. llimera is a Sicilian river mentioned 
in the Idylls of Theocritus. 

2. Daphnis. A sheplun-d in the first idyll of Theocritus. 

Hylas. The youth abducted by the nymphs in the thirteenth 
idyll of Theocritus. 

:5. Bion. The pastoral poet whose death Moschus laments in 
his third idyll. 

G. Thyrsis. This name is commcni in pastoral poetry, from 
Theocritus to Arnold. Milton assumes the part of the bereaved 
shepherd. 

Arnold, in Thyrsis, gives us a picture of one who sought com- 



284 NOTES 

fort in the scpucs associated with a friendship similar to that of 
Milton and Diodati. 

" Well ! wind-dispersed and vain the words will be, 
Yet, Thyrsis, let me give my grief its honr 

In the old haunt, and find our tree-topp'd hill ! 
Who, if not it, for questing here hath power ? 

I know the wood which hides the daffodil, 
I know the Fyfield tree, 
I know what white, what purple fritillaries 

The grassy harvest of the river fields, 

Above by Ensham, down by Sandford, yields, 
And what sedged brooks are Thames' tributaries." 

9. Damon. Another conmion name for shepherd in pastoral 
poetry. 

11-14. The green wheat, etc. This makes it certain that 
Diodati died soon after Milton left England in April, 1038. 
Milton returned in the fall of 1639. 

16, Tuscan Fiorenza. Milton was in Florence when his 
friend died. 

23, 24. Go, seek your home, etc. The repetition of these 
lines at regular intervals in the poem is after the fashion of 
Theocritus and the pastoralists. 

41, 42. To Daphnis first, etc. Here is an illustration of the 
egotism of a great soul, " a glorious nature," as Rev. Frederick 
Robertson called it. Milton does not hesitate to take a place 
second only to Theocritus. 

43. Pales. The god of the sheepfold. 

44. Faunus. The god of the pastures and flocks. 
65-70. Or v/hose discourse, etc. 

" Best seemed the thing he was, and join'd 
Each office of the social hour 
To noble manners, as the flower 
And native growth of noble mind." 

In Memoriam, cxi. 



J 



f 



NOTES 285 

" There thou art gone, and me thou leavest here 
Sole in these fields ! Yet will 1 not despair. 

Despair I will not, while I yet descry 
'Neath the soft canopy of English air 
That lonely tree against the western sky." 

Matthew Arnold, Thyrsis. 

91, 92. they, slighted, turn, etc. Cf. Lijcidas, 125. 

95-100. ^gon . . . Amyntas . . . Alphesiboeus . . . Mop- 
sus. Names of shepherds in the classic pastoral. 

111. Saturn's influence. The star Saturn was considered as 
causing melancholy among shepherds. Cf. II Penseroso, 43. 

123, 124. ^gle . . . Hyas . . . Baucis . . . Dryope. Names 
taken from mythology and applied to shepherdesses. 

127-129. Chloris too came, etc. Masson thinks that as the 
" Idumanian current" is the river Chehner in Essex, some 
friend of Milton's is here meant. 

133-154. Ah, blest indifference, etc. This contrast of natural 
and moral affection is one of the most interesting features of 
the poem. The one is temporary, the other permanent. 

" Dear friend, far off, my lost desire ; 
So far, so near in woe and w^eal ; 
O loved the most, when most 1 feel 
There is a lower and a higher." 

In Memoriam, cxxix. 

157-170. Ah, what delusion, etc. An allusion to Virgil's 
first Eclogue, where Tityrus (Virgil) tells Meliboeus of his visit 
to Rome, " carrying her head as high among all other cities as 
cypresses do among your bending hedgerow trees." Milton 
implies that even if Rome were as in Virgil's time, he paid 
dearly for such a sight if it took him away from his dying 
friend. 

173-192. Although well pleased, etc. Here w€ have an 
allusion to the friendships Milton formed in Italy. Carlo Dati 
and Antonio Francini were among the distinguished Florentines 
who did him honor, the one in an ode and the other in an 



286 NOTES 

address. Milton himself entertained them with his discussions 
in the Academies ; his ease and grace, liis learning and accom- 
plishments, delighted them. 

195-216. While bright the dewy grass, etc. Milton antici- 
pates his return from Italy and the pleasure he would have in 
the society of Diodati the follower of Galen. Sometimes Mil- 
ton would go to St. Albans, in Herts (where the British king 
Cassibelaunus opposed Caesar), and where his friend lived, or 
Diodati would visit him at Horton on the Colne. This reminds 
us of the society of Tennyson and Hallam. 

" We talk'd ; the stream beneath us ran ; 
The wine-flask lying couch' d in moss. 

Or cool'd within the glooming wave ; 

And last returning from afar, 

Before the crimson-circled star 
Had falPn into her father's grave. 

And brushing ankle-deep in flowers, 
We heard behind the woodbine veil 
The milk that bubbled in the pail. 

And buzzings of the honied hours." 

In 3Iemoriam, xciv. 

217-224. Twelve evenings since, etc. Here we have an allu- 
sion to the fact that Milton was meditating a great English 
poem, but that the subject was too complex for him. As 
there is no Diodati in whom to confide dare he confide in us ? 
He says, ' Yes, I will let you into the secret,' and for this pur- 
pose he bids farewell to the 'groves,' or the pastoral, and re- 
veals his high theme. 

Milton's father was disappointed that his son did not care to 
enter the service of the church. In his Latin poem Ad Patrem^ 
written at Horton, Milton alludes to this feeling as an apparent 
slighting of the Muse. 

" Nor thou persist, I pray thee, still to slight 
The sacred Nine, raid to imagine vain 



NOTES 287 

And useless powers, by whom inspired, thyself 

Art skilful to associate verse with airs 

Harmonious, and to give the human voice 

A thousand modulations, heir by right 

Indisputable of Arion's fame. 

Now say, what wonder is it if a son \ 

Of thine delight in verse, if, so conjoined 

In close affinity, we sympathise ' 

In social arts, and kindred studies sweet ? 

Such distribution of himself to us 

Was Phoebus' choice ; thou hast thy gift, and I 

Mine also, and between us we receive, 

Father and son, the whole inspiring god. 

No ! howsoe'er the semblance thou assume 
Of hate, thou hatest not the gentle Muse, 
My father ! for thou never bad'st me tread 
The beaten path, and broad, that leads right on 
To Opulence, nor didst condemn thy son 
To the insipid clamours of the bar, 
To laws voluminous, and ill observed ; 
But, wishing to enrich me more, to fill 
My mind with treasure, led'st me far away 
From city din to deep retreats, to banks 
And streams Aonian, and, with free consent 
Didst place me happy at Apollo's side." 

227-237. Of Brutus, etc. In his Latin poem to Manso, an 
Italian nuirquis who showed Milton much attention at Naples, 
he had sketched something of his plan of an Epic based on 
the legendary history of Britain. 

" Oh might so true a friend to me belong, 
So skilled to grace the votaries of song, 
Should I recall hereafter into rhyme 
The kings and heroes of my native clime, 
Arthur the chief," etc. — Manso. 

229. Rutupia. Richborough in Kent, whose headlands make 
a safe harbor. (M.) 



288 NOTES 

230. Imogen. The wife of Brutus. 

231. Brennus and Belinus. Two famous Celts who ruled in 
Britain centuries after Brutus. 

232. Arviragus. Son of the British king Cunobelin (Shake- 
speare's Cymbeline). He fought against the Roman invaders 
about 45 A.D. (M.) 

233. Armorican. An allusion to the settlement of Armorica 
in France by those who about 450 a.d. left Britain to escape 
the tyranny of Hengist and Horsa, the Saxons. (M.) 

234. Gorlois. Duke of Cornwall, whose wife Ingraine gave 
birth to Arthur by Uther Pendragon, king of Britain, whom 
Merlin introduced into her castle in the guise of her dead hus- 
band. Cf. Malory, Le Morte D'' Arthur ; Tennyson, The Com- 
ing of Arthur. 

240-243. Adieu my shepherd's reed, etc. Although Milton 
changed the pastoral form and the Latin verse for British, he 
never carried out the idea of an Arthurian Epic. In his History 
of England we have many of the old legends of Britain. 

248-253. If Usa, etc. The enumeration of these rivers re- 
minds us of that in At a Vacation Exercise. 

Usa. The Ouse. Cf. Cowper, The Po2:)lar Field. 

Alain. The Alyn flowing into the Dee. (M.) 

Abra. The Humber. (M.) 

Tamar. The river dividing Devon from Cornwall. (M.) 

Orcades. The Orkneys. 

256-277. All this I kept, etc. A pathetic allusion to the fact 
that he anticipated showing this outline of the poem to Diodati, 
and also the beautiful gifts from the aged Manso. To those 
who think these gifts were only two lines of Latin verse ideal- 
ized, Masson says : " We know of no present of Manso to Mil- 
ton except the Latin distich of compliment — 

' Ut mens, forma, decor, facies, mos, si pietas sic, 
Non Anglus, verum herein Angelus ipse, fores,' 

and surely not even Milton's imagination could have converted 
that into two cups." 



)sw. 



NOTES 289 

278-305. Thou, also, Damon, etc. This beautiful conclusion 
of the poem surpasses that of Lycidas. It throbs with passion- 
ate love and hope. 

" The breath whose might I have invoked in song 
Descends on me ; my spirit's bark is driven, 
Far from the shore, far from the trembling throng 
Whose sails were to the tempest given ; 
The massy earth and sphered skies are riven ! 
I am borne darkly, fearfully, afar ; 
Whilst burning through the inmost veil of Heaven, 
The soul of Ad^nais, like a star, 
Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are." 

Shelley, Adonais. 

' ' Far off thou art, but ever nigh ; 
I have thee still, and I rejoice : 
I prosper, circled by thy voice ; 
I shall not lose thee tho' I die." 

' ' living will that shalt endure 

When all that seems shall suffer shock, 
Rise in the spiritual rock, 
Flow thro' our deeds and make them pure." 

In 3Iemoriam^ cxxx., cxxxi, 
u 



INDEX TO FIRST LINES 



A Book was writ of late called 
Tetracho)xlon, 95. 

At length, ray friend, the far- 
fetched letters came, 258. 

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered 
saints, whose bones, 101. 

Because you have thrown oif 

your Prelate Lord, 97. 
Before the starry threshold of 

Jove's court, 53. 
Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of 

Heaven's joy, 26. 

Captain or Colonel, or Knight in 

Arms, 94. 
Charles — and I say it wondering 

— thou must know, 264. 
Cromwell, our chief of men, who 

though a cloud, 99. 
Cyriack, this three years' day 

these eyes, though clear, 103. 
Cyriack, whose grandsire on the 

royal bench, 102. 

Daughter to that good Earl, 
once President, 95. 

Erewhile music, and ethereal 
mirth, 23. 

Fairfax, whose name in arms 
through Europe rings, 99. 

Fljs envious Time, till thou run 
out thy race, 25. 



Hail, Native Language, that by 

sinews weak, 8. 
Harry, whose tuueful and well 

measured song, 97. 
Hence, loathed Melancholy, 34. 
Hence, vain deluding Joys, 39. 
Here lieth one who did most 

truly prove, 29. 
Here lies old Hobson. Death hath 

broke his girt, 28. 
How soon hath Time, the subtle 

thief of youth, 33. 

I did but prompt the age to quit 
their clogs, 96. 

Lady, that in the prime of ear- 
liest youth, 94. 

Lawrence, of virtuous father 
virtuous son, 102. 

Let us with a gladsome mind, 2. 

Look, Nymphs and Shepherds, 
look! 45. 

Methought I saw my late es- 
poused saint, 104. 

Now the bright morning-star. 
Day's harbinger, 27. 

O Fairest flower, no sooner blown 

but blasted, 5. 
O Nightingale that on yon 

bloomy spray, 33. 



291 



292 



INDEX TO FIRST LINES 



This is the month, and this the 

happy morn, 12. 
This rich marble doth inter, 

30. 



Vane, young in years, but in sage 
counsel old, 100. 



What needs my Shakespeare for 
his honoured bones, 28. 

When Faith and Love, which 
parted from thee never, 98. 



When I consider how my light is 

spent, 101. 
When the blest seed of Tei*ah's 

faithful son, 1. 
With no rich viands overcharged, 

I send, 261. 

Ye flaming Powers, and winged 

Warriors bright, 22. 
Ye nymphs of Himera (for ye 

have shed, 265. 
Yet once more, O ye laurels, and 

once more, 87. 



INDEX 



Abra, 288. 
Accident, 122. 
Acheron, 182. 
adieu, 288. 
adjure, 218. 
JEgle, 285. 
^gon, 285. 
age, 217. 
air, 1G3, 212. 
Airs, Lydiau, 150. 
Alain, 288. 
ale, 157. 

Alphesiboeus, 285. 
Alpheus, 205. 
altar, 125. 

amber-dropping, 185. 
amorous on, 118. 

Ammorean, 111. 

Amphitrite, 18(i. 

Amyntas, 285. 

Anacreon's, 279. 

Anchises, 180. 

Antiquity, 182. 

Aquilo, 118. 

Arcady, star of, 180. 

Aretliuse, 201. 

Argos, 278. 

Aristotle, 120. 

Armorican, 288. 

art, 138. 

A. S., 219. 

assassin's, 277. 

asphodil, 185. 

Atropos, 141. 



attendance, 180. 
azurn, 186. 

Baalim, 128. 
bard, hapless, 277. 
bard, of Thrace, 280 
bards, Kio. 
bass, 128. 
battlements, 157. 
Baucis, 285. 
baulk, 219. 
Bear, out watch the, 

104. 
begin, 199. 
Belinus, 288. 
bellman, 103. 
bested, 161. 
Bion, 283. 
bird of hate, 153. 
birds of calm, 126. 
black, all be, 131. 
blasts, urchin, 185. 
blood, martyred, 231. 
blue-haired, 177. 
bolt, 184. 
book, 231. 
born, 214. 
bosky, 180. 
bout, 159. 
bower, Amphitrite's, 

186. 
boy, Attic, 165. 
breaking, 214. 
Brennus, 288. 
293 



brood, heavenly, 119. 
Brutus, 287. 
bnskined, silver, 170. 

Calchas, 280. 
Came, 142. 
Camus, 202. 
car, gilded, 179. 
care, disapproves 

that, 236. 
cast, 180. 
Cassibelan, 286. 
cedarn, 187. 
cell, forbidden, 277. 
Celtic, 178. 
centre, 'i the, 181. 
Cerberus, 154. 
chains, 225. 
chains, willing, 122. 
chariot, 131. 
charms, 212. 
Charybdis, 180. 
Chastity, 180. 
Cheek, John, 217. 
Chloris, 285. 
Cimmerian, 155. 
clear, 201. 
climb, 203. 
clip, 219. 
close, 127. 
coffers, 121. 
compass, 122. 
commercing, 162. 
committing, 220. 



294 



INDEX 



concent, 135. 
conscience, 237. 
consort, 128, 135. 
Corydon, 157. 
Cotytto, 179. 
Cranks, 156. 
creep, 203. 
Cremona, 131. 
crofts, 182. 
Cupid, 187. 
curl, 170. 
curls, 183. 
Cybele, 169. 
Cyllene, 171. 
cypress-bud, 141. 

Daisies pied, 157. 
Damon, 284. 
Dardanian, 278. 
Darwen, 225. 
Daphne, 183. 
Daphnis, 283, 284. 
Dati, 285. 

dawn, dappled, 156. 
debonair, 155. 
December's, 278. 
Delphic, 138. 
delusion, 285. 
demons, 164. 
Deva, 200. 
dight, 157. 
disinherit, 180. 
divide to sing, 131. 
dodged, 139. 
dolphins, 207. 
Doric, 207. 
Dragon, 128. 
Dryope, 285. 
Dunbar, 225. 
dungeon, 181. 

Ears, Midas', 220. 



ears, trembling, 201. 
eclipse, built in, 202. 
Edwards, 219. 
element, 180. 
elf, 185. 
Emathian, 212. 
engine, 205. 
envermeil, 118. 
ere, 126. 
erewhile, 131. 
Erebus, 184. 
Erymanthus, 171. 
Erythraian, 114. 
essence, 130. 
Ethiop, 162. 
Euclid, 236. 
Euphrosyne, 155. 
Even, 179. 

evenings, twelve, 286. 
excess, 130. 
exempts, 220. 
eyn, 128. 

Fame, 169. 
fantastics, 121. 
fast, 162. 
Faunas, 284. 
Favonius, 234. 
fays, 129. 
feast, 279. 

feathered, dewy, 165. 
fee, 217. 
feet, 186. 
fence, 184. 
fiend, 158. 
Fiorenza, 284. 
flamens, 128. 
flighted, drowsy, 182. 
fly, grey, 200. 
fond, 161, 178. 
fondly, 233. 
for, all, 126. 



for, 217. 
Fortune, 225. 
Francini, 285. 
free, 170. 

froth-becurled, 114. 
fur. Stoic, 183. 
Fury, 201. 

Gadding, 200. 
Galen, 286. 
gardens, 187. 
gate, 156. 
Genius, 207. 
gentle, 170. 
ghost, 181. 
Glaucus, 186. 
gloom, 126. 
goblin, 158. 
Gordon, 216. 
Gorlois, 288. 
gowns, 228. 
grain, 162, 184. 
granges, 179. 
Green, Mile-End, 216. 

Haemony, 183. 
half my days, 233. 
hall, 178. 
halls, 279. 

harmony, Siren's, 171. 
harnessed, 129. 
Harpies, 182. 
haughty, 178. 
head, 186. 
hearse, 142, 207. 
Heaven, 128. 
Hebe, 180. 
Hebrides, 207. 
Hecate, 179. 
Helicon, 142. 
Herald of the sea, 
202. 



INDEX 



295 



herd, 285. 
here, 277, 278. 
Hermes, 164, 
Hero, 131. 
Hesperian, 181. 
Hierarchy, 219. 
Himera, nj'^mphs of, 

283. 
hinds, 217. 
Hippotades, 202. 
hist, 163. 
hit, 161. 
holiday, sunshine, 

157, 187. 
homeward, 207. 
Homer, 280. 
honour, 170. 
hooked, 126. 
horn, tasselled, 170. 
hutched, 184. 
Hylas, 283. 
Hymen, 158. 

Iberian, 178. 
Idumanian, 285. 
Imogen, 288. 
imp, 233. 
Ind, 182. 

indifference, 285. 
individual, 131, 
infer, 181, 
insphered, 177. 
intrude, 203. 
Iris, 178. 
Isle, 177. 
its, 127. 

Jolly, 153. 
Jove, 177, 184. 
Joys, 160. 
julep, 183. 



junkets, 158. 
Juno, 169. 

Kings, last of, 121. 
kirtled, flowery, 180. 
kiss, thought to, 118. 

Ladon, 171. 
lamp, 163. 
landskip, 157. 
language, 120. 
lantern. Friar's, 158. 
lark, 156. 
Lars, 128. 
Latona, 169. 
lawn, 126, 162. 
leaden, 162. 
leaves, 131. 
lees, 184. 
Lemures, 128. 
Leucothea, 186. 
license, 217. 
Ligea, 186. 
line, Anchises, 186, 
Linus, 280. 
locks, 203. 
Lucina, 141. 
luck, 122. 
Lycseus, 171. 
Lycidas, 199, 200. 
lyrist, Roman, 279. 

Mab, Faery, 157. 
Msenalus, 171. 
Maid, just, 119. 
Manso, 287, 288. 
marble, 128, 138, 162. 
mariners, 178. 
mask, 131, 
Meander, 180. 
Melancholy, 161. 
Meliboeus, 184, 



Memnon, 161. 
mickle, 177. 
milder, 221. 
mist, 204. 
mistook, 169. 
Mole, 123. 
Moly, 183, 278. 
Mona, 200. 
monumental, 165. 
moon, 187. 
Mopsus, 285. 
morn, 125. 
morrice, 179. 
mourners, 131. 
mouths, 203. 
murmurs, 171, 182. 
Musseus, 164, 
Muse, 200, 279. 
music, 127. 

Narcissus, 180. 
Nature, 171. 
navel, 182. 
Nepenthes, 183. 
Neptune, 185, 
Nereus, 185. 
nod, 187. 
noise, 127. 
North, 223. 
note, just, 220. 
night raven, 155. 
nursed, 178. 
Nymph, 155, 184. 
nymphs of Himera, 
283. 

Ocean, 126. 
Oceanus, 185. 
off, thrown, 218. 
Og, 115. 
Oracles, 128. 
Orcades, 288. 



296 



INDEX 



orient, 178. 
Orpheus, 159. 
otherwhere, are 

found, 131. 
Ovid, 279, 

Pace, 131. 

Pales, 284. 

Pan, 127. 

Pan ope, 202. 

Partlienope, 186. 

Peer, 177. 

pensioners, 161. 

Peor, 128. 

perceive, 178. 

pestered, 177. 

pestilence, 119. 

Pharian, 114. 

Phillis, 157. 

Phcebus, 131, 

Pilot, 202. 

Pindarus, 212. 
pinfold, 177. 
planet, 170. 
pledge, 202. 
plighted, 180. 
pluck, come to, 199. 
poets, 182. 
Powers, 130. 
Predicaments, 120. 
prefixed, 119. 
Presbyter, 219. 
prevent, 125. 
Priest, 219. 
primrose, 205. 
proof, massy, 165. 
Proteus, 186. 
pulse, 184. 

Quarters, 177. 
Queen, 128, 187. 
quills, 208. 



Quintilian, 217. 
Quips, 156. 
Quire, 125, 141. 

Ragged, 155. 

rathe, 207. 
rebecks, 157. 
reed, 288. 
repairs, 207. 
resolve me, 118. 
Rivers, 122. 
roam, 277. 
robe, 158. 
rock, 131. 
rod, 184. 
rolled, 231. 
roof, 171. 
roosted, low, 180. 
roses, 155. 
round, 179. 
rove, 217. 
ruddy, 114. 
ruffled, 181. 
rugged, 202. 
Rutupia, 287. 
Rutherford, 219. 



Sages, 125. 

Samos, 280. 

sampler, 184. 

Satyrs, 200. 

Saturn's, 285. 

saws, 179. 

Scotch - What -d' ye- 

call, 219. 
scrannel, 204. 
Scylla, 180. 
secure, 157. 
seek, so to, 180. 
seize, 142, 218. 
sepulchral, 131. 
serene, 177. 



several, 177. 

shade, chequered, 157. 

shadows, 129. 

shapes, 180. 

sheep, 204. 

shoon, 183. 

side, 187. 

sight, happy-making, 

132. 
Sihon, 114. 
simples, 183. 
single, 180. 
Sirens, 171, 180. . 
slip, 142. 
slope, 179. 
sock, 158. 
song, 288. 
sons, 119. 
soothest, 184. 
spare, 235. 
spared, 203. 
sparely, 205, 
speckled, 128. 
spells, 179. 
spets, 179. 

sphere, 118, 126, 179. 
sphere-metal, 139. 
Spring, 278. 
stakes, 182. 
stall-reader, 216. 
Star of Arcady, 180. 
star, 205. 

star-ypointing, 138. 
state, 169, 171. 
states, hollow, 228. 
steep, 200. 
Stoic, 183. 
stole, 162. 
storied, 165. 
story, 220. 
straight, 157. 
stray, 186. 



INDEX 



297 



strife, 141. 
strook, 127. . 
Stygian, 155. 
suited, civil, 165. 
surmise, 207. 
suspicion, 181. 
swain, 177, 185. 
swart, 181. 
swinges, 128. 
swinked, 180. 
sylvan, 1(55. 
Syrian shepherdess, 
142. 

Tale, 157. 
talent, one, 233. 
Tamar, 288. 
taste, Attic, 235. 
teemed, 129. 
Terah, 114. 
than, 126. 
theatre, 277. 
Themis, 236. 
Thestylis, 157. 
thigh, 165. 
thing, evil, 181. 
Thone, 183. 
thousands, 233. 
throne, 135. 
thrusts, 184. 
thunder, 121. 
thwarting, 170. 
Tliyrsis, 157, 182, 283. 
Tiresias, 280. 
Tityrus, 285. 



Tow^ers, 157. 
trace, 181. 
tract, 177. 
Tragedy, 164. 
trains, 179. 
tresses, 186. 
Triple-Tyrant, 231. 
trip it, 156. 
Triton, 186. 
triumphs, 158. 
Troy, 278. 
tub. Cynic, 183. 
Turkis, 181. 
turtle, 126. 
twigs, 183. 
twine, 179. 
twins, 187. 
Typhon, 129. 

Unadorned, 177. 
uncouth, 207. 
unenchanted, 181. 
unexpressive, 127, 207. 
unharhoured, 181. 
unmoulding, 182. 
unowned, 181. 
unprincipled, 180. 
unreproved, 156. 
unsphere, 164, 
unsunned, 181. 
unvalued, 138. 
unwithdrawing, 183. 
Usa, 288. 
use, 205. 
Uther, 288. 



Vacation, 139. 
Venus, 155. 
Vergivian, 277. 
Vesta, 162. 
victory, 214. 
viewless, 179, 
Virtue, 187. 
vizored, 183. 
Vulcan, 183. 

Walls, of glass, 

114. 
wain, 139. 
wanton, 125. 
warble forth, 115. 
Warriors, 130. 
weed, 119, 158, 177. 
weeping, 131. 
well, 200. 
whilere, 130. 
whist, 126. 
wind, 204. 
wings, 155. 
wink, 181. 
Wizard, Carpathian, 

185. 
wizards, 125. 
woe, 231. 
wolf, 205. 

wolves, 182, 220, 225. 
worm, taint, 200. 
wreath, laureate, 225. 

Yclept, 125. 
youth, 277. 



REFERENCES 

BIOGRAPHY 

Garnett, Richard. Milton (Great Writers Series). 

Johnson, S. Milton (Lives of the Poets). 

Masson, David. Life of John Milton. 6 vols. 

Masson, David. The Poetical Works of John Milton. 3 vols. 

Pattison, M. Milton (English Men of Letters Series). 

HISTORY 

Archer, T. The Highway of Letters. 
Fiske, J. Beginnings of New England. 
Gardiner, S. R. History of England. 
Green, J. K. Short History of the English People. 
Hovvitt, W. Homes and Haunts of British Poets. 
Hutton, L, Literary Landmarks of London. 
Macaulay, T. B. History of England. 
Mitchell, D. G. From Elizabeth to Anne. 

CRITICISM 

Arnold, M. Essays in Criticism. Second Series. 

Bagehot, W. Literary Studies. 

Bayne, Peter. Chief Actors of the Puritan Pevohition. 

Birrell, A. Obiter Dicta. Second Series. 

Brooke, S. A. Milton (Classical Writers). 

Brooke, S. A. English Literature. Macmillan «& Co. 

Channing, W. E. On the Character and Writings of John 

Milton. 
Carlyle, T. History of Literature. 
Coleridge, S. T. Lectures on Shakespeare and Miltofi. 
Dowden, E. Transcripts and Studies. 

298 



BEFERENCES 299 

Emerson, R. W. Essays from the North American Review. 
Forster, J. The Statesmen of the Commonwealth. 
Lowell, J. R, Prose Works. Vol. IV. 
Masson, D. Three Devils, and other Essays. 
Maurice, F. D. The Friendship of Books. 
Myers, E. Introduction to Milton'^s Prose. 
•Macaulay, T. B. Essay on Milton. 
Paine, H. A. English Literature. 
Shairp, J. C. Poetical Interpretation of Nature. 
Saintsbury, G. Elizabethan Literature. 
Scherer, E. Essays. Trans, by George Saintsbury. " 
Palgrave, F. T. Landscape in Poetry. 
Van Dyke, H. Poems of Tennyson (Milton and Tennyson). 



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